I fell in love with a vampire
by babyvfan
Summary: What happens when an average guy, who's new in town, meets a beautiful yet mysterious girl, who's also a vampire? Will there be love? Will there be drama threatening to crumble that love? Will there even be a tragic loss? Read the story to find out.
1. Chapter 1

This chapter really isn't a chapter. It's only explains the story. This is HSM combined with Twilight. But with a few changes. Instead of a girl falling in love with a vampire boy, an average guy who moves into a average town and then meets a mysterious, beautiful girl, who he soon falls head-over-heels in love with. And this mysterious girl, along with the rest of her family is not really human, they're immortals.

Characters

Zac Efron: Zane LaForne, an average guy who moves into an average, boring town with his mom. He's your typically average guy, or so he thinks.

Corbin Bleu: Jack Cross, Zane's first friend he makes at his new school, who soon becomes his best friend.

Ashley Tisdale: Amanda Cross, Jack's sister, who's just like Jessica from Twilight, but so much nicer.

The vampire family

Vanessa Hudgens: Victoria Rain, who is just like Edward Cullen, and but has an extra power. She has the ability to see someone death's day.

Blake Lively: Rosalina Rain, who's exactly like Rosalie, but a bit more…nice.

Ashley Greene: Alice Rain, who's exactly like Alice Cullen.

Chris Violette: Elliot Rain, who's strong, teasing, and cocky like Emmett.

Jackson Rathbone: Jasper Rain, who's silent and mysterious like Jasper Cullen.

Jessica Alba: Emma Rain, who's motherly to her adopted children and treats them like her own children, just like Esma.

Leonardo DiCaprio: Carlisle Rain, who's fatherly to the adopted children, and exactly like Carlisle Cullen.

The Rains are a mysterious family, and also they're a group of the most beautiful people you'll meet and to ever walk the earth. They're also vampires, who are vegetarians that only drink animal blood instead of human. Just like the Cullens, none of the teens are related and are all adopted. What will happen when Zane meets Victoria? Will love blossom? Will drama crumble that love? Will there be a tragic loss?


	2. Chapter 2

You ever wonder about things? You ever wonder why things are the way they are? Well I mostly do. Who am I? I'm Zane LaForne. And right now, I'm on a plane, heading to Albuquerque, New Mexico where I'm going to be living with my mom, Eliza. Before I lived with my dad, Mike in LA, California. I loved everything about LA: the sunny sun, the beaches, the hot weater, the beautiul, bright blue ocean. So why I did move? My Dad got re-married to some lady he knew for only three months. I could tell they weren't going to need me around that much. Besides, I definitely didn't want to be around their lovey-dovey crap. So I called my mom and asked her if I could live with her. She was surprised of course, but said I was more than welcome to. So it was goodbye sunny LA and hello mostly-rainy Albuquerque.

The minute I got of the plane, Eliza ran to me and squeezed me so tight, that I nearly couldn't breath.

She pulled me back and took a good look at me. She cupped my face and said "Look at you. The last time I saw you, you were an adorable little boy. But now you've grown into a handsome young man."

I tried to smile, but it was hard to do when my mom was pinching my cheeks a bit too hard and tight.

When she finally let go of my face, we grabbed my suitcases and got into her car. As she drove, Eliza was trying to start up a conversation, but I wasn't in the mood to talk. So we drove in silence. And then surprise, surprise, it begins to rain. I looked out the car window and saw that, despite the rain, Albuquerque hasn't change that much.

My mom finally pulled up the car in the driveway of her house. The house is kind-of-old and isn't too big like my old one, but wasn't too small either. I got out of the car, looked at the house, and let out a sigh. I used to spend every two weeks here in the summer, but that was a long time ago. I haven't been here since I was eleven, so it's definitely been a long time.

Eliza got out of the car and helped me with my suitcases, there about five of them. As we entered her house and went up to my room, I saw that the house hasn't change that much.

"So what do you think of your room?" Eliza asked me as she opened the door to my room and waved her hand at it. "I had a few friends help redecorate it."

I stepped into my room and looked around it. My room was a bit smaller than I remembered, and was repainted blue and white. There were about five sport posters hanging on the wall. A twin-size bed with navy blue bed sheets. A Dell computer on an old-looking desk with a desk lamp. A dark wooden dresser and closet with a small mirror. And a bookcase.

I just shrugged. It wasn't what I expected, but it'll have to do. "It's cool." I said automatically.

My mom kissed my head and left me alone in my room. I finished unpacking my stuff and flopped on my bed, groaning and listening to the rain outside.

Tomorrow is my first day at a high school my mom enrolled me in, and I'm anything but excited about it. God knows the minute I get into that school, hundreds of eyes are going to be on me. Which is just plain creepy and annoying. I knew I wasn't going to fit in. At my old school, I was mostly a loner who had about one or two real friends, three at least. At this new school, I knew I was going to be a loner again. Maybe even an outcast.

I lie on the bed and groaned again. I look out the window and watched the rain pour, thinking about some things. Wondering why I even came here, and reminded myself the answer. I could tell easily tell that I was going fit in just fine, since Albuquerque seemed incredibly boring. An average guy like me in an average, boring town, like this. Yeah, seemed like a good fit.

The next morning I groaned as I was awaken by my annoying alarm clock and slowly crawled out of bed. My body, mostly my poor back, felt so sore. I looked out the window and saw that it was really cloudy, but, thank god, wasn't raining. But still everything was pretty much wet. I went to bathroom, brushed my teeth, and took a quick, hot shower. I looked at my reflection in the mirror. My dark, chestnut brown hair was shaggy and wild. My blue eyes looked tired and a bit blood-shot, like I was drinking all my troubles away last night. I didn't get that much sleep since I was too busy thinking about things and listening to the rain. I combed my hair to keep it down, and splashed water in my face to wake me up more. I went back to my room, threw on a white t-shirt, black baggy jeans and matching leather jacket, and put on my vintage black high-top sneakers.

I went downstairs to the kitchen, seeing my mom, already dressed for work, making breakfast. Eliza is a nurse at a hospital that likes General Mass Hospital, and isn't around home that much. She greeted me with a smile and handed me a plate of breakfast: toast, bacon, and scramble eggs. We ate in silence which was okay with me. Soon Eliza had to leave. She wished me good luck at school, kissed my head, and left.

I threw away the leftovers, rinsed my plate, put it away, and grabbed my backpack. I grabbed the keys to the new truck Eliza got me. Maybe new isn't the right word for it. Eliza got it cheap from an old friend of hers, who bought it in the sixties. The truck's white with some paint chipping off, kind of beaten up, and looked like it has been in at lease three accidents. At lease the engine's still good.

I walked outside and got into my old/new truck. It took three tries, but finally I was able to start the motor. I memorized the directions to the school, and slowly drove to it. As I drove to it, I saw the school that was a few feet away, and was a bit suspired. The school definitely was smaller than my old school. As I drove into the school's parking lot, I looked around and was relieved to see that my truck wasn't the only old car in the parking lot. In fact, the only car that was fancy was a black shiny SUV.

I parked a bit farther away from the school, killed off the engine, and looked at the school for a moment, taking a deep breath and calming my nerves. Am I a shy guy? Sort of, but not really, I'm just quiet and keep to myself, a gene I got from both Mike and Eliza, even though I must admit Eliza was more outgoing than my dad. But I was a bit nervous, after it's my first day at new school, where everyone knows everyone. I took another deep breath, grabbed my backpack, got out of my truck, and slowly walked into the school. A few people were looking at me as I walked into the building, but I pretend I didn't notice. Lots of people looked my way, watching me, but I just ignored it and walked into the secretary's office.

The secretary was an elderly old woman, wearing grandma-like glasses, with red hair tied in tight bun. "Are you Zane LaForne?" She asked me.

I just nodded.

"Well welcome to East High School. I hope you'll have a good day. Here are your books and locker combination," She said, handing me a huge heavy stack of books and a paper with my combination. "I just need you to all your teachers sign this." She said, handing me a slip.

"Sure." I said.

"Good. You're going to need this," She said, handing me a map of the school.

"Thanks." I told her. I left her office and went to my locker, stuffing the heavy books including my stuff into it. It definitely wasn't easy, but I was able to manage.

I checked my schedule and saw that my first class was history. I grabbed my history book, checked my map to find the class, and ran to there before the bell rang. The minute I stepped into that classroom, everyone stopped and looked up at me. _Oh brother_, I thought, groaning. I walked up to the teacher, gave him my name, and had him sign the slip.

And, just my great luck, he assigned to a sit in front of the class. I silently groaned again, but took my seat. I was going to have to suck it up and deal with it. It was my first day here and I've been here for less than twenty minutes, and hated it already. I paid attention to the history lesson and copy down the homework, despite my watchful audience. When the bell finally rang, I stuffed my stuff into my backpack, grabbed my jacket, and left that classroom.

An African-American guy with a huge afro, walked up to me, looking a bit curious. "You're the new kid, right?" He asked me.

I groaned again, but nodded.

"I'm Jack Cross." He said, sticking out his hand to me.

"Zane LaForne." I replied shaking his hand, smiling a bit. At lease he was the only one who was brave enough to talk to me and introduce himself, unlike the other students who were looking at me as they walked by.

Jack and I had a few classes together. We spent most of the time in classes, just talking. I found out that we have a lot in common. We both like basketball, played instruments (I play the guitar), love art, the LA Lakers, motorcycles (I'm saving up for one), and a bunch of other stuff.

By lunchtime, I walked into the cafeteria, grabbed my lunch, and sat with Jack and his friends. Among his friends was his adopted blonde sister, Amanda, who acts like a princess, but, compare to most of the girls here, was actually nice. And a few other people who are in my class, but whose names I don't know.

The cafeteria was loud filled with talking and laughter. Some of Jack's friends started up a conversation about sports and after a while I joined in. It was either that or look around the cafeteria without meeting curious eyes.

The loudness of the cafeteria was suddenly dead-silence. Everyone freeze and turned their heads to the cafeteria doors. Curious, I turned to the door and then silently gasped, couldn't believe what I was seeing, blinking my wide eyes twice.


	3. Chapter 3

In walks a group of beyond greatly, amazing-looking teenagers. There were five of them, two boys and three girls, who looked like movie stars or supermodels. I, along with practically the entire cafeteria, watched them as they slowly walked in, with such grace, grabbed their lunches: an apple, bagel, with a can of soda, and walked to a small table in the corner. I could tell that they knew everyone was looking at them, but they just ignored it.

Slowly, after an incredibly long moment, people started talking again. Jack and his pals re-started their conversation. But I couldn't help, but look over at the strange group again.

They weren't eating that much or talking to each other. But I had to admit, all of them looked too…amazingly…beautiful. Each of them did, even the guys were great-looking. There was a girl with a breath-taking gorgeous face, a body that any girl would kill for, and long silk pale blonde hair. She was looking at her reflection in a make-up mirror, fixing her make-up and hair. A strong brawny big guy with dark hair, who looked like a male model and pro-wrestler. He was really muscular and had a strong, fit body that any guy could hope to have. He crossed his arms, groaning, looking bored. The other guy had blonde hair and a weird expression on his face, like he was given an order in the army or in pain. He was also good-looking, lean and tall and also looked like a male model. The other girl was a bit on the short side, but still looked just as beautiful and great-looking like the others. She had her dark hair cut in a spiky pixie cut, wore dark vintage clothes, and was the only one who was at lease smiling a bit. She reached out to the blonde guy and held his hand, smiling at him. The last girl…she was _beautiful_, beyond beautiful, intoxicatingly drop-dead gorgeously beautiful. She was the most beautiful out of the group, even most gorgeously beautiful out of all the girls. She looked like an absolute dark-haired angel with her long sleek raven-black hair, beautiful high-cheekbones, cute-as-a-button nose, and a beyond outrageously, intoxicatingly beautiful face, and a perfect body with perfect curves that even a model would kill for.

They all looked absolutely perfect and flawless. And also…kind of pale. They had purplish bags under their eyes and looked tired, like they've been up all night. They each had another thing in common; they each had dark eyes, instantly dark. Definitely not a natural eye color.

"Who are they?" I asked Jack, turning to him.

Before Jack had a chance to answer, Amanda jumped in, cutting him off. "Those are the Rains," She said, pointing her pink nail-filer at them. "Their parents are Dr. Carlisle and Emma Rain."

"So which one of them is the Rains' real kid?" I asked her, trying to figure it out, looking at them. None of them looked even a bit related.

"None of them are. They're all adopted. The Rains moved here about two or three years ago from Alaska," She said, filing her nails and then pointed her pink-nail-filer at the blond girl "That's Rosalina Rain. She's beautiful, of course. I heard she used to be a swim-suit model," She pointed the filer at the strong, dark-haired guy. "That's Elliot Rain. He's sort of cocky and is like super strong. He could rip a door off its hitches," She next pointed to the pixie-cut girl. "That's Alice Rain. She's kind of weird. That girl is always happy, which is really creepy and totally not natural at all," She then pointed to the blond guy. "That's Jasper Rain. He always looks like he's in pain and no one knows why," She last pointed to the black-haired beauty. "And that's Victoria Rain. She's like the youngest of the Rains. Most of the guys can't tell whether she or Rosalina are the gorgeous one. She's mostly quiet and keeps to herself. If she wasn't sitting with her siblings, then she'd mostly be sitting by herself."

I took a look at the Rains' table and couldn't help but stare at them, especially Victoria. It was weird though. Once I glanced at her, I couldn't look away. I noticed, unlike her sisters, she was barely wearing makeup. She just had on some black mascara and lip-gloss; her face was bare and beautiful. She was a natural beauty. She ripped a small piece of the bagel with her pale fingers and ate it slowly. Her other siblings began talking-actually murmuring-to each other, but she remained quiet, looking at table, lost in thought. The Rains seemed too different. Like they didn't belong here.

"They seem…different." I said.

Amanda just shrugged, flipping her long blonde hair. "I know. The Rains are just like that," She then leaned closer to me, acting like she was about to reveal a dark top-secret. "The weird thing about them is that they're hooking up with each other. Like Rosalina is with Elliot. And Alice is with Jasper."

"They're not really related to each other, Amanda. They're adopted, remember?" said one of her friend, Chelsea, who's a short girl with dark dirty blonde hair and wears big, round glasses.

Amanda turned to her and said "But it's still beyond wrong, not to mention weird. I mean they live together in the same house for God's sake."

"What about Victoria?" I asked her.

She turned back to me with a smirk on her face. "Why do you ask? Do you like her?" She said.

I hesitated for a moment, suddenly feeling heat upon my face going to my cheeks. I knew I was blushing now.

My blush just increased the smirk on Amanda's face. "Ooh you do. That is, like, so cute" She squealed. Then her smile dropped a bit, looking at Victoria for moment before turning back at me. "Okay, look I have nothing against Victoria, but my advice about your crush for her is to just forget about it. She's pretty and completely gorgeous, of course, but she doesn't date anyone. Apparently none of the guys here are good enough for her. Believe me, every guy in this school asked her out, but she turned them all down flat. There's a good chance, she'll turn you down, too if you ask her out, too."

"Well most of the guys here are jerks," Chelsea said, defeating Victoria's case "You said so yourself."

"I know," Amanda said, turning to her, trying to defend her case. "But still she turned down Michael Benner, captain of the football team. I know he's like jerk and all, but still he's a major hottie. If I were her, I'd made out with him and then dump his ass."

"You act like such a slut, you know that." Jack said to her, earning himself a smack on the head.

I just ignored them and look over at the Rains' table, mostly looking at Victoria. There's something about her…that's definitely different. She looked innocent, unlike her siblings, and something else I couldn't describe. Once I looked at her, I couldn't look away.

Then her dark eyes quickly flickered at me. The look in her eyes sends a chill down my spine. Her eyes were cold and filled with anger and loathing, looking like she wanted me dead. Her dark eyes held me and I couldn't look away. She murmured something under her breath, clenching her fists, tightly. Slowly, very slowly, she looked away.

I blinked my eyes, trying to come out from a shock, couldn't understand what just happened. She just had a hold on me and I couldn't escape from it. For some other reason, I didn't want to.

When the lunch bell rang, the Rains slowly got up at the same time and left the cafeteria, walking slowly yet perfectly. Victoria didn't look my way again. I was frozen in my seat, looking after her as she walked away, still in a bit of a shock from her gaze. I slowly stood up and walked to Biology class with Ricky, Amanda's twin cousin, and Chelsea.

I walked into the classroom, seeing other people entering the classroom, taking their seats. I looked to my left and was amazed, seeing Victoria was there, sitting alone at a table with a daze expression on her face as she looked out the window. I walked over to the teacher, told him my name, and had him sign the slip the secretary gave me. He assigned me at the table where Victoria was. Nervously, I sucked in my breath and took my seat next to her.

Victoria's beautiful face was suddenly scowling. Her lip was in a tight line, her tightly clenched fists on her lap. She slowly turned to me; her eyes were on me, shaped into slits, watching me very closely. I looked at her for a minute, almost beginning trap in her eyes. Her eyes were coal black filled with ice-coldness and murderous anger. I could have sworn I heard a growl forming in her throat.

I immediately turned forward and paid attention to the Biology lesson. The whole time in class, Victoria was still and didn't move an inch from her uncomfortable position. I could feel her black eyes on me, watching me, never letting out of her sight. When other people stare at me, it's just plain annoying. But with Victoria's…it scared the living hell out of me. She looked like she was trying her hardest not to explode.

Before I even blinked, Victoria was already out of her seat, moving fluidly and perfect, walking away while giving me another cold stare. She was already out the classroom, before the bell even rang. People looked after her, surprised and amazed, and then turned to me, exacting an answer or a reaction. I just stood in my chair, shocked how she was gone in flash less than minute, and trying to figure out what just happened.

By the end of the day, I was walking back to secretary's office to give her the back the now-signed slip she gave me and said to back to her when school was over. But as I walked into her office, a surprise awaited me there. Victoria was already there, arguing something with Ms. Plato (the secretary). She was talking so quietly and quickly, I couldn't understand a word she was saying. I quickly walked in and stood behind her, hearing a bit of their conversation.

"Isn't there anything else? Gym? French? Chemistry?" She said, mostly quietly.

"I'm sorry, Ms. Rain, but the other classes are filled. You're going to have to stay in Biology." Ms. Plato said.

Victoria sighed, clenching her fists, looking like she was desperately trying not to lose her cool. She then firmed her posture, and, looking like she sensed something, turned to me swiftly. Her movement was so fast that it made me daze for moment. I looked at her, once I gain some control over myself, noticing she was less than two or three inches shorter than 5'9 me. Her dark black eyes trapped me, holding me for a long moment. She really did look like she wanted to kill me.

"Never mind then," She murmured, slowly turning to Ms Plato. "I can see that they're nothing else I can do about it."

She grabbed her backpack and left the office, in a speed that wasn't exactly running but definitely was faster than walking. Leaving me confused and dazed.

"How was your day, Mr. LaForne?" Ms. Plato asked me with her pasted smile.

"Okay." I lied. It was everything but.

From the corner of my eye, I looked out the window, seeing Victoria quickly walking to the black SUV car with her brothers and sisters. Before she got into the driver seat, she took a good look at the school, and then looked straight through the window at the Ms. Plato's office, looking right at me. Our eyes locked instantly. I turned my head more to see her better. We just looked at each other, neither of us moving, keeping our eyes gazing at each other. This time she was wasn't scowling like she had earlier, but her eyes remained a bit cold, her expression unreadable, freed of any emotions. Finally, what seemed like hours, she broke the gaze, sighing. She got into her SUV and drove away.

I sighed watching her go. Again I couldn't understand what just happened and what was going on with Victoria. I didn't know what her problem was, but I was definitely curious to find out about it. And also planning to have a little talk with her.

That night as I was lying in my bed, tossing and turning, unable to sleep. Victoria clouded my mind and she was all I could think about. Maybe I do like her- a tiny bit. Maybe even more than that.

I sighed in frustration, looking up at the ceiling, groaning. _Damn you Victoria_, I thought. _You mysterious yet incredibly beautiful goddess, who for some reason has me under her spell_.


	4. Chapter 4

The next two days though at school, Victoria didn't show up at all. Her brothers and sisters sat at their table, not eating or talking. Some people were convinced that I was the reason she wasn't in school. Apparently some heard about what happened between us at Biology class. I just ignored them all, and convince myself that she was sick or something. However those two days were a bit easier without her dark black eyes staring at me, giving me cold stares. But still I thought about her, wondering what she's doing.

The next day at school, it was snowing mixed with rain. I began to recognized a few people, and received some 'heys' and high-fives. I walked into the cafeteria, talking to Jack about motorcycles. I bought some coke from the vending machine, and cracked opened the can, taking a gulp of it. But as I turned around, I looked around at the Rains' table and this time saw they were now five of them. Their hair was wet from the snow and rain. They all, for once since I've seen them, were in a good mood, laughing and talking. Victoria was back, giggling with her sisters, brushing her raven-black hair with a hairbrush. She looked up at me.

I was stunned by her inhumanly beauty and also by her eyes. This time, instead of coal black, her eyes were golden, in a shade of butterscotch. Her eyes weren't cold, but still remained serious. Looking into her golden eyes, I instantly forgot everything, even where I was and who I was.

She slowly turned around and returned talking to her sister, Alice.

I shook my head, after a long moment, trying to clear my head from the hold her eyes had on me.

"Zane!" Amanda called, practically yelling.

"Oh! What?!" I said, turning to her.

"I've been calling your name over twenty times already, trying to bring you back to earth. What the hell is wrong with you? Were you in a trance or something?" She demanded.

"I….was doing something. My mind just wanders off." I said.

I walked over to Jack's table with Amanda, looking over at Victoria. When her eyes flickered at me, I gave her a quick wave at her. She just nodded while murmuring something under her breath, and looked away.

When I walked over to Biology class, Victoria was already seated at her seat, looking out the window, watching the rain fall. I quickly took my seat next to her and listened to Mr. Daniels (the biology teacher) as he explained what we're doing. Apparently we're going to study cells under the microscope and write down what type of cell they are.

As he was explaining our assignment, Victoria slowly pulled her gaze away from the window and turned to me. She was silent for a moment, just staring at me. "Hello. You must be new here. You're Zane LaForne, right?" She said in a soft voice that was sounded angelica and smooth, like velvet.

I slowly nodded, turning to her.

"Well welcome to East High. I'm Victoria Rain." She said, with a tiny half-smile, her eyes still serious.

I looked at her, confused. Was this not the same girl who looked like she wanted to murder me the other day?

"Please forgive for my behavior the other day. You just…caught me on a bad day, that's all." She said, apologizing for her strangeness the other day.

"Were you mad at something? Sick?' I asked her. I was curious to know why she acted so strange around me.

She paused, unsure what to say, choosing her words very carefully. Finally she said in an extremely quiet voice "Sort of like that."

She then turned forward, dropping the subject.

"Alright class, you will have the period time to identify seven cells. You may begin…now." Mr. Daniels said.

Everyone immediately got to work, expect Victoria and I. She turned to me and we looked at each other for a long minute. As I looked at her, I began to feel something. I couldn't describe the feeling, but it hit me _hard_. It felt like a over a thousand tiny butterflies were kicing at my stomach, trying to break free, making me feel sick and weird. Never have I felt this feeling before; but here it was, growing more and more in my body, giving me chills with desire. Her golden eyes slowly trailed down to the microscope and then slowly looked back at me.

"Do you want to start?' She said softly.

I shook my head and moved a bit to give her some more room. "Ladies first." I said.

She came forward the microscope, murmuring a soft 'thank you', and took a look at the cell.

"Hair…" She said, writing it down in neat cursive handwriting in her notebook.

I then moved the microscope and identified the cell while she wrote it down. We each took a turn, identifying the cell and her writing them down. Her handwriting was perfect and I didn't want to ruin the page with my sloppy handwriting. But as we both reached for the microscope, our hands touched.

But as her touched mine, I immediately flinched, pulling my hand away from hers. Her hand felt hard and cold as ice. My hand was numb by her touch.

"Sorry." She whispered.

"No, it's okay." I told her.

We were already done while most people were far from half-way through. Mr. Daniels came to out table, wondering why we stopped working.

"Finished already?" He asked us. He glanced at Victoria. "Miss Rain I hope gave Mr. LaForne a chance to use the microscope."

"Zane actually did. He identified four out of seven." She told him.

"Really?' He asked us with a raised eyebrow. We both nodded. "Well it's a good thing I made you two partners." He said. And then went to the next group.

When there wasn't much for us to do, we were just silence. I leaned back on the chair, titling it a bit, watching the clock go slow. Victoria just sat in her seat, lost in her train of thought.

"So where did you live before?" She asked me all of the sudden, quickly and quietly.

I stared at her, caught off guard for the moment by her question. "I lived in LA, California." I answered.

She smiled a bit-a very tiny half-smile. "So why did you leave sunny LA for mostly rainy Albuquerque?' She said.

She wasn't the first to ask me that, but unlike others who were only interested for gossip, she sounded sincere, like she really did want to know. She turned to me with her golden eyes, curious, waiting for me to answer.

"Well my dad, Mike got re-married to a woman from his job. Her name's Libby. They dated for about three months and then the next thing I knew, they got married." I said.

"And that's why you moved?" She said.

"Yeah," I said, suddenly feeling depressed thinking about dad and home. "I could tell they weren't going to need me around that much. So I called Eliza," I turned to her. "You know my mother Eliza?"

She nodded. "She works in the hospital with my father, Carlisle."

"Yeah," I then continued "So I called Eliza and asked her if I can move in with her. Once I got her permission, I packed my bags, got my plane ticket, and now…here I am."

She just nodded and combed the tip of her deep black hair with her fingers. "Do you miss LA?" She asked, not looking at me.

"Yeah kind of." I answered.

"What do you miss about it?" She asked me, still not looking at me, playing with her hair.

I became more depressed, thinking about home. "I miss everything about LA. The sun, the beaches, the always warm and hot weather. My house was right next to the beach. I went there all the time, sit on the hot sand, stick my feet in the cold, and just stare out into the ocean and think about stuff."

I looked at her to see if she was really listening. Even though her eyes weren't looking at me and she was playing with her hair, I could tell she was paying close attention to me.

"Are you depressed by Albuquerque?" She said, very softly.

I was caught off guard by that question. No one asked me something like that before.

"Well sort of yeah," I said "My dad and mom could easily tell, but since I was so sure of my decision, they still let me come here. Eliza always calls me her open book. I'm too easy to read to her."

"Well that's strange," Victoria said, glancing at me for a moment. "Because I'm finding you very difficult to read."

"You must be a good reader then." I told her.

"Usually." She murmured. She stopped talking and looked at me. I could see her arms crossed on the table, her hands in tight fists.

I looked into her eyes and instantly lost my train of thought. That strange feeling hit me-right in the gut, double times the hardness I couldn't shake the strange feeling away and also didn't want to. The feeling made my stomach feel sick, my heart was suddenly stopping and then beating twice as fast.

"Did... you... get contacts?" I asked her, once I could control myself, suddenly remembering how her eyes were black.

She was taken back for a second by my question. "No." She answered, actually murmuring, and then turned forward.

I frowned in disbelief. I honestly remembered her eyes being coal black. But soon the frown disappeared, once I remembered about our conversation. It was short, but at lease we talked. The strange feeling was growing more and overwhelming me, making me feel sick.

The bell rang earlier than I expected; most people left the classroom in a hurry. But Victoria and I remained where we are, suddenly gazing at each other. The strange feeling growing more and more in me, making me feel strong and weird, sending chills in my spine. People stared at me as they left, but I barley notice them.

Slowly Victoria stood up and grabbed her things. As she was about to leave, she hesitate; she slowly turned to me.

I felt my face becoming hot and beads of sweat on my forehead, the feeling still hitting me hard. I slowly smiled at her and waved.

I could have sworn I saw a small beautiful smile on her face. She slowly, and stiffly, waved at me. Then she slowly walked away, leaving her daze spell on me.

"Zane? Zane?! Are you okay?" Ricky said, waving his hand in front of me.

"Huh? Oh what?' I said, coming out of from the daze, turning to him and Chelsea.

'We're trying to bring you back to planet earth!" He said. "Are you coming to Gym with us?"

I nodded, got off my seat, grabbed my backpack, and followed then to Gym, my last period for the day. I don't mind Gym that much, unless we're doing something like football or dodge ball that'll turn extreme. At Gym, we played extreme German dodge ball and unfortunately for me, it turned very extreme. I'm sure at lease twenty dodge balls hit me, mostly my face, hard.

By the time I left Gym, I–mostly my face-was sore, aching. I grabbed my jacket and my backpack and went outside to my truck. It was drizzling this morning, but was now the rain was pouring hard. Most of the cars in the parking lot were already gone expect a few that were still there. I then saw Victoria leaning causally against the front door of her SUV, holding her umbrella, waiting for her brothers and sisters. She was three cars away from me and stared at me, waving a stiff small wave. Her eyes trapped me again, the strange feeling growing, kicking my gut hard. I swiftly looked away and got into my truck. Distracted by the strange feeling, I put the truck on reverse, almost hitting a Toyota. Lucky for the Toyota, I hit the brake peddle before I was so close to hit it. The SUV was now full and drove pass me. I couldn't be sure because of the rain, but I could have swore I saw Victoria giggling as she passed me.

When I opened my eye s the next morning, I noticed something was different. I looked out my window and saw it was snowing. The layers and layers of snow that covered the house, the road, the street, and my truck. All the rain from yesterday had frozen solid, making the driveway an ice slick.

I groaned while crashed on my bed and banged my head with the pillow. I hated the snow as much as I hated the rain.

Eliza had left for work before I got downstairs. I began to realize that living with Eliza was like having my own place, since she wasn't around that much.

It took every once of my concretion to make it down the icy brick driveway alive. I almost slipped, but held on to the car's mirror, avoiding a fall. Today was definitely going to be a complete challenge.

As I droved to school, I distracted myself from my unwanted speculations about Victoria Rain, by thinking about my friends and my unsure plans for the weekend.

When I got of my truck at school, I saw the SUV parked near the front and Victoria leaning against it, watching me, her expression revealing no emotion. I slowly got out of my car and turned to her for a minute, glaring at her. Her beauty likeness to an angel, her skin was pale and matched the snow, her hair long and deep black, her hands, for some reason, balled up into fists, her face was unreadable. I glanced at her, her spell almost taking it effect on me, but I quickly turned away. I distracted myself by checking my tires, making sure there were safe to ride with in the snow. But then as I checked the fourth tire, I heard an odd sound.

It was a high-pitched screech, and it was coming fast, becoming loud-real loud. I looked up, panicked and shocked.

Victoria Rain was standing five cars way from me, staring at me in horror. Her face stood out from the sea of faces, all frozen and shock. But of more immediate importance was the dark blue van that was skidding, tires locked, spinning wildly across the ice of the parking lot. It was going to hit the right side of my truck, and I was standing between them. I was panicking in fear too much to close my eyes.

Just before I heard the shattering crunch of the van hitting my truck, something hit me, hard, but not from the direction I was expecting. My head cracked against the side of the truck, and I felt something cold and hard pinned to me. But I didn't notice anything, because of the van that was spinning, hurling my way.

A low sound made me aware that someone was with me and the voice was impossible to recognize. A long leg shot out protectively in front of me, and the van was a foot away from my face, and the leg slammed against the van, stopping it in its tracks and creating a deep dent in it.

My heart was silent for a moment and then started beating like a drum. I wasn't sure what just happened, but seeing the van, that was now stopped and badly dented, I slowly adsorbed it all in. I looked up at her, seeing her golden eyes concerned. She slowly placed me against my truck, checking to see if I was okay. She looked at me for a long moment, her expression fierce but looked unreadable. Slowly, she backed away from me and jumped over my truck, walking gracefully and fluidly away.

It was, for a short moment, silent until the screaming began. People shouted and screamed my name. They surrounded me, panicking and screaming.

"Zane," Ellie, the driver of the van that nearly killed me, said, with blood leaking from her head "I'm so sorry. I didn't see you there." There was shouting and chaos around me, but I was barely paying attention to it. I looked over at the Rains, who looked shocked, but for some reason angry at Victoria as she walked to them. I heard sirens and saw ambulances coming our way, along with a tow truck.

I rubbed my head, feeling a powerful throb pain banging inside of it. I slowly got up, but Jack and Ricky had to steady me up, making sure I don't collapse. Two EMTS slowly pulled Ellie from her van, and the truck tow loaded her van. The EMTS then loaded me and her onto stretchers. I saw Victoria, watching me closely, as they loaded us into the ambulance. Unfortunately for me, they took us to the hospital where Eliza works.

Eliza cried hysterically once she saw me being rolled into the hospital. She caught up with me and kissed me repeatedly on the forehead and pinched me cheeks too tight, embarrassing me to death. Once I got the sight of people staring at us, my face blush a bright red.

They placed Ellie and me in the emergency room, with nurses checking our temperature and pulses. They had to wheel me away to x-ray my head. I told them nothing was wrong and I was right. No concussion, just a bump and a headache. I asked the nurse if I could leave, but she said I had to see the doctor first. So until then, I'm stuck in the ER.

They wheeled me back in the hospital room and gave me Tynol for my head. I took a look at Ellie Adams, who I recognized from history class, and saw a bandage wrapped around my head. She looked worse than I did.

"Zane I'm so, so sorry. I was trying to drive my brother's old van, but then the ice got slippery and I lost control. I could have killed you!" She said.

"Ellie, chill. It's cool." I told her.

But unfortunately for me, she didn't. She was like a broken record, apologizing to me over a hundred times, saying she'll make it up to me, and starting to annoy me. I told her repeatedly that it was okay, but she ignored me and kept on apologizing. Finally I groaned from the exhaustion and closed my eyes, shutting Ellie out.

"Is he asleep?" a voice said.

I opened my eyes, seeing a very young middle aged doctor with a friendly smile and dark blonde hair. He looked unbelievably young and, I have to admit, really good-looking. He had bags under his eyes, and looked tired. His dark eyes and the purplish bags under his eyes reminded me of the Rains. For a moment I didn't believe that he was a doctor because of how young he looked.

"Hello Zane. I'm Dr. Carlisle Rain." The doctor said, offering his hand.

"You're Victoria's dad," I said, shaking his hand.

"Yes I am," He said, smiling "Now let's have a look-see." He checked me eyes to make sure I could see right, my ears to check to see if I can hear right, and had me say today's date to make sure I didn't have amnesia.

"Well just a head ache, but other than that nothing is wrong." He said, writing down some stuff on his clipboard. "You just need some bed rest and will get some painkillers for your head," He then smiled at me "You're a very lucky young man."

I slowly nodded, remembering the accident and what stopped me from getting even more hurt. "It's all because of your daughter. She…stopped the van." I said.

Dr. Carlisle still smiled, but I could tell he thought I was losing it.

"I think you hit your head a little too hard, Zane. I'm sure you were probably imagining it." He said.

I didn't frown on the outside, but I did in the inside. I know what I saw. She…stopped it.

Finally I was checked out and able to leave. I waited for my mom while she was signing some papers. I sat on a chair, waiting for her, and then saw Victoria talking with her brothers and sisters and Carlisle. Curious, I went a little closer to them and hid behind a corner, listening in a bit on their conversation.

"What the hell were you thinking?!" Rosalina said to Victoria, practically yelling.

"Rose, calm down!" Elliot said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

She slapped his hand away and loudly whispered, literally shouting "I will not clam down! Unlike the rest of you, I actually care about what she just did!" She waved her hand at Victoria.

Victoria placed her hands on her head, massaging her temples while shutting her eyes, trying not to explode.

"That's enough, Rosalina!" Carlisle said, trying to make peace.

Jasper just stood quiet in the background, staring at each of them slowly. Suddenly it was like things calm down between them.

"Calm down, Rose," Alice said, siding with Victoria and Elliot. "Besides you would have done the same thing if you and Elliot were in that situation."

Rosalina opened her mouth to protest, but shut it when she couldn't think of anything else to say. I could tell she lose that argument.

Jasper, still without saying a word, pointed my direction. They all turned to me, seeing I was eavesdropping.

I suddenly felt very awkward.

"We will discuss this later," Carlisle murmured to Victoria. Then he and others left, walking perfectly away.

Victoria closed her eyes and took a long, deep breath before slowly turning my way and walked to me. "May I help you?" She said, crossing her arms against her chest.

"I want to know what happened!" I demanded.

"Zane, I was standing right next to you and pulled you out of the way." She said.

"No you weren't and didn't!" I told her. "You owe me a damn explanation!"

"I don't owe you anything, I saved your life." She said

"Yeah you do!" I snapped "You owe me some damn answers! I know what I saw!"

She leaned against the wall, her arms tightly crossed against her chest, her eyes hard, but her lips almost forming into a hint of a smirk. "And what exactly did you see?" She asked.

I looked around first, making sure no one was coming our way, before looking back at her and coming a little closer. She shifted away a bit, but I let it pass. "You….I don't know how, but somehow…you were suddenly in front of me before the van was less than a foot away from my face. And just when it was about to hit me, you stopped it-actually kicked it." I knew it sounded unbelievably crazy and dumb, but I know deep down in my gut that's how it happened.

"You actually think I kicked the van?" Her tone questioned me and made me even more suspicious.

I nodded my head, with my jaw tight.

"No one will believe that silly little story." She said.

"I wasn't planning on telling anyone." I said.

Her expression looked surprised by what I said. "Then why do you need answers?" She asked.

"Because I know what I saw!" I practically yelled "You know I'm right, Victoria and you're going to admit it!"

Her gold eyes became cold and a thousand times harder. Her knuckles were ghost white from the tightness of her fists. I could see I made her snapped.

"You, my dear man, are absolutely delusional!" Her tone hard and cold.

"NO I AM NOT!!!!" You know I'm right. You kicked the damn van, Victoria." I said, trying to control my anger, practically yelling.

"Can't you just thank me and be grateful!?" she said

"Fine," I snapped "Thank you so much!"

"Your very welcome!" She snapped back, angrily.

We both stood quiet, scowling at each other, our arms crossed. I wasn't about to break the silent first; I was right and she was going to admit it.

"You're never going to let this go, are you?!" She asked, breaking the silence first, her tone ice cold.

I firmly shook me head; no way was I going to let this go. "I know I what I saw!"

I could see anger snap in her eyes. She was trying her hardiest not lose it. "Well I hope you enjoy your little mystery and the disappointment," She said through her clench teeth "Because as far as I am concerned, you're absolutely and completely delusional for actually believing that I kicked the van," Something about her tone made me absolutely sure I was right. "I hope you will have a speedy recover. Good day, Mr. LaForne." She left, looking disgusted by me, with an ice-cold look on her face.

I scowled after her. But I was positive I was right, and wasn't about to let it go. Victoria Rain was definitely a mystery and no matter what I was going to figure her out.

When I got home, at lease thirty people called, wanting to know how I was. My dad called me, and it took me over a thousand times to convince him that I was okay. Eliza watched me, making sure I wasn't going to collapse or something. She even insisted that she gives me a sponge bath; luckily I was able to talk her out if it.

I went to bed early, feeling pissed and frustrated about what argument with Victoria and wondering why she wouldn't tell me the truth. I took some pain-killers for my head and gladly sank into unconsciousness.

_I was tossing and turning in my bed, moments from what happen this morning running through my head, Victoria's face flashing in my mind. _

_I woke up from the sleep, trying to clear my head and thoughts, sweating. I looked up and my eyes opened wide when I saw a surprise in the corner. Victoria slowly walked out of the corner, walking gracefully toward me, her midnight raven black hair in wavy curls, cascading down her back, wearing a dark plum purple silk dress with spaghetti straps and the hem of the dress stopping above her knees. She looked absolutely intoxicatingly beautiful like a goddess. _

_She approached me, her expression unreadable, and hesitated for a moment, slowly stoking my hair. _

_My heart, all of the sudden, was beating fast by her touch. I don't know what came over me, but suddenly I grabbed her hand and pulled her closer to me, making her sit on my bed._

_We gazed at each other for a long moment, not saying a word, staying still. Suddenly I crashed my lips against hers, kissing her passionately, wrapping my arms around her waist. She wrapped her arms around my neck, deepening the kiss, kissing me passionately and hungrily. She lay flat on the bed, our lips attached to each other like glue, pulling me on top of her. The kiss suddenly turned into a hot steamy make-out. Soon we began stripping each other of our clothes, as our kisses became more desperate and intense, our passion for eahc other began deeper and deeper and more hotter and hotter._

I woke up from the dream, sweating like crazy, my heart pounding like and banging like a bongo drum. I quickly looked at the corner, almost expecting to see her there. For a spilt short moment, I could have sworn I saw her there. Victoria standing in the corner of my room, her expression revealing no emotion, he eyes watching me, her beauty too beautiful to believe.

"Victoria!" I said, almost yelling. I quickly turn on my night stand lamp and turned back to the corner.

She was gone.

I looked around my room, trying to clear my head. I laid my head back on the pillow, and took deep breaths, flashes of my dream played in my head. That was the first night I dreamed about her. After that night, I kept on having dreams about her.


	5. Chapter 5

The following month that followed the accident was tense, too damn frustrating, and uneasy.

To my dismay, I found myself the center of unwanted attention. Ellie was impossible to get rid of. She kept on following me around classes, trying to make it up to me.

People, however, didn't follow Victoria around. But were convince that she was the hero, after I explained to them over and over how she was standing right next to me and pulled me out of the way. Jack, Amanda, Ricky, and Chelsea commented that they didn't see her till the van was pulled away.

I wondered to myself why no one else saw her, standing far away, before she, suddenly and impossibly, saved my life. I soon realized that no one else watches her the way I did. It made me feel like a stalker.

Victoria and the rest of the Rains never looked at me in lunch. Ever since our argument, Victoria never said two words in Biology class. She basically just looks out the window or forward, pretending I don't exist. She still would scowl though, balling her hands into fists, without talking to me or even glancing at me, never acknowledging me.

I could easily tell she regrets saving me.

I was still thought about why Victoria wouldn't just tell me the truth, even though I was keeping me part in the bargain.

I walked into Biology class the next day, taking my seat at my lad table, sitting next to Victoria. She pushed her seat as far as possible away from me. Her expression was unreadable, her lip in a tight line, her knuckles ghost-white from the tightness of her fists. She looked out the window, lost in thought.

I tapped my pen on the table while Mr. Daniels wrote down notes on the white board. I glanced at her, seeing her stiff position hasn't change. I glanced at her for the longest moment before finally I said "Hey Victoria."

She slowly turned to me. Her eyes were a darker gold than the last time I saw them, light purple bags were under her eyes. But still she looked more beautiful than any girl I've ever seen in my entire life.

I only got a nod from her. She turned forward to the class and wrote down the notes in her neat script.

Those strong fuzzy feelings I have whenever she is around me, restarted again, the million butterflies in my stomach trying to bust out, kicking my insides. For a moment, I felt like I was about to throw up.

Finally class was over. Victoria left the classroom, wordlessly, moving quickly. I looked after her; those strange feelings never going away.

After school, I walked to my truck, knowing Ellie was behind me, annoying the hell out of me. I got into my truck and started up the engine.

"Ellie, I really need to go." I said, trying to get rid of her.

"I wanted to ask you something. Will you go to the spring dance with me?" She asked, batting her eyelashes, with a flirty smile.

I noticed Victoria, who was five cars away from me, leaned out her car window, staring at me. I gazed at her for a long time before I gained back my train of thought and realized that Ellie, unfortunately, was still here.

I turned back to Ellie and said "Sorry, but I'm not going to the dance."

"Oh," Her smile fell. "Where are you going?"

"I'm going out of town," I told her. It wasn't a complete lie; I was planning to go out of town. "I won't be able to go to the dance."

"Well that's okay," She said, grinning. "There's always prom."

I faked a smile until she was finally gone, and then I scowled. Ellie wasn't the only girl to ask me to the dumb spring dance. About 127 girls-expect Amanda and Chelsea thank the great lord- have already asked me to the dance and I had to make up excuses saying why I wasn't going. A few examples: doctor's appointment, visiting a sick relative, feeling sick and new newest one, going out the town, that's the excuse I'm going to stick with.

I honestly wasn't interested in any of the girls at school, expect for one. One very interesting girl that caught my eyes. She's different from the rest of the girls, very unique and mysterious, not to mention unbelievably beautiful with long sleek midnight, deep raven-black hair. I realized that the girl who I describe was five cars away from me.

I turned around to Victoria, watching as her brothers and sisters got into the car. She started up the engine with a quiet purr-unlike my engine which is unbelievable loud-and drove off, without taking a second glare at me as she passed me.

I looked after her, shaking my head, and signing. I will never understand that girl. She is definitely a mysterious girl.

The next day at school, it was raining again, pouring harder than yesterday, making the streets and roads like waterslides. I parked my truck in the only available spot, which was too far away from the school. I killed the engine and put on my hood. Getting out of the truck, my keys fell out of my jacket pocket into a puddle near me. As I bent down to pick it up, a white hand flashed and grabbed the key before I could. I looked up. Victoria Rain was suddenly in front of me, wearing a dark brown leather trench jacket, her umbrella covering us from the rain, dangling the keys in front of me.

"_Jesus Fucking Christ_!!!!!" I said, startled, nearly falling into the puddle, placing my hand on my chest, almost having a heart attack. "Holy Shit."

"You really shouldn't swear. It isn't proper," She said, her lips almost forming into a faint smirk. "You dropped these." She dropped my keys into the palm of my hand.

I looked around for her SUV and saw it was parked near the front of the school while mine was all the way down here. So how did she get here so fast?

I slowly got up and locked my car. I looked at her, wanting to ask her over a million questions, but didn't know where to begin.

"Um…do you want to walk with me?" I asked, feeling like a complete idiot.

She nodded and pulled me under her umbrella. We walked to school in silence; I glanced at her a few times. When we reached the building, she shook her umbrella dry and closed it. I studied her for a long time, absorbing her beauty and perfection, wondering how any girl could be this flawless and beautiful.

"There's something I want to ask you." She said, turning to me.

She caught me off guard for a moment. Was she going to ask me to the dance? Part of me hoped for it while another part didn't so much.

"I'm not going to the dance-'' I began to say.

"I know," She said, cutting me off "I heard you were going to out of town next Saturday and I was wondering if you needed a ride. I wasn't sure whether your truck can handle driving over twenty miles. Besides, I myself was planning to go out of town, too."

Now she really caught me of guard. I stood still for a moment and blinked my eyes, trying to come out of the spell she was casting on me.

"Um…okay." I said. I was aware of the people who stared at us as they passed by. I sighed for a moment and looked back at her.

She was confused my sigh. "What's wrong?" She asked; her voice soft.

"I just can't…keep up with you," I said. "I just don't understand you, get you. You pretend I don't exist which clearly says that you don't want us to be friends."

Her face was neither scowling or smiling and showed no expression. "I just think it would be better if we weren't friends. But that doesn't mean I don't want us to be." She said.

"Okay, you now just lost me." I said, confused.

"It would be more….better if we weren't friends." She said.

I realized we walked to my locker. We stopped in front of it and looked at each other.

"So do you want to go out of town with me next Saturday?" I asked her.

She nodded with a faint smile on her face. But as she looked at me again-actually looked on top of my forehead-, the smile dropped and she sighed.

"You really should stay away from me," She said in a somber tone. "I'll see you at lunch."

She waved at me and walked away.

I made my way to history class in a daze, trying to figure out Victoria and what she meant. Everyone looked up at me as I arrived ten minutes late for class and rushed to my seat.

"Thank you for joining us, Mr. LaForne," said my history teacher, Ms. Gold. "If you would be so kind to open your history book to Ch. 27 p.750. This week in history we will be discussing the Great Depression."

I pulled out my history book and turned the page to the Great Depression chapter. As Mr. Gold explained the Great Depression and wrote down facts about it on the white board, I copied down the facts (which are notes for the test she's giving us on next Tuesday), and then my mind began to wander.

I couldn't help, but think about Victoria. I couldn't understand what she meant when she said 'It would be better if we weren't friends,' or 'you really should stay away from me.'

Her words echoed in my head and I still couldn't understand what she meant. Could she mean that she's dangerous?

I wanted to shake that thought away, but somehow I couldn't. That possibly sticked to my mind. Victoria looks innocent, though, like an angel, but there's something else about her that's different. The possibly stick in my head. Could Victoria mean that she dangerous?

By the end of class, I met up with Jack and Amanda. We talked about the weather and how sunny it's going to be on Saturday. The others had plans while I still don't know what I'm going to do on the weekend. Maybe I'll go to the beach or something?

The rest of the morning passed in a blur. I spent most of it thinking about Victoria and what she said, trying to come up with theories about her. So far most of them were reasonable while the others were plain old ridiculous.

I walked into the cafeteria with the others, feeling tired, and lost in thought. I grabbed my lunch and was about to sit down with the others until I saw the Rains enter the lunchroom, walking in a group, grabbed their lunched one-by-one. They just got a bagel and soda. Victoria was the last to get her lunch and walked over to the vending machine and got herself a Dr. Pepper.

I walked up to her, grabbed a soda, and turned to her. Just as she was about to leave, I grabbed her arm and stopped her.

She turned to me, waiting for me to say something.

"Um….I was wondering…do you want to go sit with me over there?" I asked her, nodding to a small empty table by the windows.

Victoria looked over at the table and then slowly turned to me. Her face was serious, thinking about it for a moment. Slowly her lips curved into a small, tiny smile.

"Okay." She said.

Us sitting together may have been a news flash, because everyone in the cafeteria, including the Rains, stopped and watched us as we walked over to the table and sat across from each other. Most of the girls-especially Amanda and Chelsea, and even Victoria's sister, Alice, who looked pleased seeing us together-looked our way, giggling, squealing, and gossiping. Most of the guys looked jealous of me, especially Michael Benner, because I was sitting with the drop-dead gorgeous Victoria Rain. Slowly people began talking again while Victoria and I were silent at our table.

Her smile grew a bit more as she played with her straw. She then looked up at me and her smile became full. "This is different." She said.

"I know," I looked at her brothers and sisters, who were watching us closely. "I think your family is mad that I stole you from them." I told her, turning back to her.

"They'll get over it." She said, playing with her straw.

"I know, but I don't think I'll give you back though," I joked. I got a smile from her, which was the most beautiful smile I have ever seen. "I want to hang out with you. I want us to be friends, Victoria."

"Friends?" Her tone sounded unsure.

I nodded.

She tapped the cap of her soda bottle as she was thinking. She was lost in thought and I desperately wanted to know what she was thinking.

Finally she looked back at me, her smile still in place. "I suppose we could try. But I want to warn you right now that I might not be a good friend for you." Behind her smile, the warning was real.

"Why do you think that?" I asked her.

"Because what if I'm not the superhero? What if I'm the villain? The bad guy?" She asked in a tone that was serious and made me consider what she said.

"I see." I said, figuring out the several hints she hinted.

"Do you?" She said, looking at me, wondering if she revealed too much.

"You're dangerous," I said. Her smile became smaller. "But not bad. I don't think you're bad."

"Don't be so sure about that." Her voice was almost inaudible. She ripped a small piece of her bagel and slowly ate it, and took a long sip of her soda; her mind obviously somewhere else. I looked at her, creating new theories. She meant what she said-that was obvious. But I didn't feel afraid of her; there was a tiny part of me that was a tad-bit afraid, but it was as small as a grain of sand and I ignored it. I mostly felt anxious, on the edge, and more than anything fascinated. The same way I felt when I'm near her.

The silence dragged on until I realized that the cafeteria was mostly empty. I groaned. Today in biology class we're going to do blood type and give blood for the school's blood donation to Red Cross. I shook my head, thinking about it. I wasn't afraid of blood or anything, but I felt definitely don't like seeing it or have it sucked from me. I looked at Victoria, watching her as she took a last tiny bite of her bagel and finished her soda. She looked up at me and smiled.

"You should be getting to class." She said.

"I got a better idea," I said, smiling at her. "How about you and me ditch the rest of classes and go somewhere?"

"Are you serious?" She said, giggling a bit.

I nodded. She giggled and I grinned at her. I love her laugh; it sounds like sweet music, making me wonder if she sings.

"I was actually going to skip the rest of classes," She said. "But are you sure you want to?"

I nodded again.

She giggled again and brushed her hair back. She grinned at me. "Okay, grabbed your stuff and meet me at my car in five minutes." She said.

I nodded again, still grinning at her.

"See you there." She said. She waved to me, slowly getting up, throwing away her trash, and walked out of the cafeteria.

I dumped my trash and left the cafeteria in a hurry, rushing to my locker. I threw on my jacket and put on my hood, stuffed my things into my backpack, and ran to the parking lot in the pouring rain. I looked around for the SUV, which was difficult to do when the rain is getting in your eyes. The next thing I knew, the black SUV was in front of me. Victoria waved at me as she honked the horn, signaling me to get in the car. I got in and shut the door. She turned the heat up, turned up the volume of the radio, and drove off.

We drove in silence; the rain and radio that was playing classical music were the only things that were making sounds. I sneaked a peek at Victoria, watching her as she drove, looking like she had something else on her mind. I recognized that music that was playing, it was Beethoven.

"Is that Beethoven Symphony #5?" I asked her.

She looked at me surprised. "You know Beethoven?" she asked me.

I nodded. "My mom plays classical music at the house. I only know my favorites."

She smiled. "It's one of my favorites, too," She sighed, but the smile still in place. "So where do you want to go?"

"Um…" I said, thinking for a moment. "Well how about we go to the library? I need help with algebra. And I heard that you're quite the little genius."

She giggled again; I smiled at her. She brushed her hair away from her eyes. "Okay," She said. "The library it is."

The library wasn't too crowded, practically empty. The size of it reminded me of the Central Library; the size of the library was amazingly huge and filled with endless books. I saw a couple of books I was thinking of borrowing. Victoria and I settled at a desk table and spread out our school books. Victoria really was a good, patient tutor and helped me with all my homework, helping me understand algebra a bit.

When there wasn't much for us to do, we took out a few books and just read. I glanced at Victoria, who was caught up in her book, reading it slowly. I stopped reading and just watched her.

Before I even knew it, I pulled out my sketch book and a pencil, and started sketching her. It wasn't the first sketch I did of her. After the first night I dreamt about her, I started doing sketches of her. And if I do say so myself, they are pretty good. So far I did about ten sketches of her and even two portraits.

When I was finally done, I put down my pencil and took a look at new masterpiece. The sketch was of Victoria, walking in the woods, heading toward the moonlight, her head turning only a bit back, only revealing a bit of her beautiful face, which was mostly covered with her long black hair.

"What are you doing?" She asked me.

"Nothing," I said, quickly, closing my sketchbook, and put it in my backpack.

She sighed with a smile while shaking her head, letting me pass just this once. She returned to her book.

I stared at my book, not really reading it. I couldn't help, but look up at her, watching her as she readied her book, new theories about her swirling in my head. For some reason I could tell she knew I watching her. Victoria slowly looked up at me, placing her elbow on the table, and placing her chin on her hand. She gazed at me as I gazed at her, neither of us making a sound or moving.

"What are you thinking?" She asked me.

"…I'm trying to figure you out. Figure out what you are. I have a few theories about you." I confessed.

"Really? Tell me some of them." She said.

I blushed, thinking about some of theories I thought about. Some of them were just incredibly stupid. "You don't what to hear them. They're just stupid."

"Please." She asked sweetly, leaning forward toward me, unleashing the full power of her golden eyes, creating her spell on me. Great God, how does she do that?

I shook my head, trying to escape her spell. "Um… what were we talking about?"

"Your theories. I want to hear about them." She said, smiling a smile that was sweet and soft and beautiful like an angel or a goddess. I can hardly resist it.

"Well… one of my theories is bitten by a radioactive spider." I said, feeling like such a dumb-ass. Unfortunately it was the only theory that made sense.

She leaned back in her chair, crossing her arms, and shaking her head with a smile. "Nope. You're not even close."

"So no spiders?" I asked her. She shook her head. "Damn."

She sighed again-it sounded sad for some reason-and looked down at the table and traced it with her fingers. Her smile became smaller and had hints of sadness in them. She looked back at me, her golden eyes trying to find something in my blue eyes.

"I wish you wouldn't." She murmured softly, sounding a bit sad.

I frowned a bit; I knew she was thinking about what she said to me in the cafeteria. "I don't think you're bad, Victoria." I said, trying to assure her of that. That was no possible way that a girl as innocent and beautiful like Victoria could be dangerous.

"Don't be so sure about that." She said, quoting the exact words she said to me at lunch.

Silence fell; neither of us saying a word. I glanced outside, watching the rain, seeing it pour harder, making things look blurry. And then returned my sight to the raven-black haired beauty, sitting across from me, caught up in her book.

"Can I ask you something?" I asked her.

She looked up at me. "Alright." She said.

"Okay…" I cleared my throat which was a bit dry and looked back up at Victoria, who was watching me, waiting for me to answer. "Do you regret it?"

She looked at me, a bit confused. "Regret what?"

"Regret saving me?" I questioned her.

"Why would you think I would regret saving you?"

"Because…" I was struggling for words, not sure where to start first. "The way you acted after you saved me. Never talking to me, pretending I don't exist, never acknowledging me, the scowl you have ever time I was near you. I could easily tell you regret saving me."

Victoria was quiet for a moment, her face looking surprised, almost like I insulted her. Slowly her lips curved into scowl. She was silent for a moment, only looking at me until she crossed her arms and leaned back into her chair. Her scowl slowly vanished; her face revealing no expression but had a bit of sadness-actually more than a bit.

"I don't" She said, her voice very soft. "I was just mad at something. Something unimportant. But I could never regret saving you." She smiled at me a small smile. "After all, you are my friend, right?"

I nodded, grinning at her. I couldn't help but grin, because she just called me 'friend', which made me suprisingly and pleasently happy. She grinned back at me, brushing her hair back.

"What's your dad like?" Victoria asked me.

"He's a lot like me. Quiet, a loner, and keeps to himself. But he was a bit more outgoing than me. He really did get me more than anyone else did. Even though he's my dad, he's like a big brother to me. He's my best friend." I got depressed thinking about my dad and wondered what he's up to right now.

"How old are you, Zane?" She asked me.

"Seventeen." I told her, taken back for a minute, confused by her question, wondering why she asked me that.

She rested her elbow on the table, placing her chin on the palm of her hand. She studied me for moment and said "You don't seem seventeen."

I chuckled when she said that. She looked at me, confused, wondering why I was laughing. But I couldn't help, but laugh some more.

"You're not the first person to tell me that. My dad thinks I'm a middle-age man trapped in a teenager's body," I shrugged. "I don't know, I guess I'm more mature than other people."

"Well that's what I like about you," She said, smiling at me. "You're different than most boys."

I could feel heat upon my cheeks, my face changing to bright red. Was I surprise? _Hell yeah! _I couldn't believe a too perfect and beautiful, drop-dead gorgeous goddess of girl like Victoria would actually like a boring and average guy like me. It was weird to believe. My face was feeling too hot, and my throat was bone-dry.

Victoria giggled when she saw me blushed; which made me blush a crimson red. She giggled more.

"Red is a good color on you." She giggled.

"Um…Er…." I said, clearing my throat "You um…don't seem like a high school junior yourself.

She sighed with a smile, looking away for a moment, and looked back at me. "I suppose also like you, I'm more mature than most people. A quality we both share," Her eyes flickered to the clock and then back at me. "We better get going." She said, getting up, gathering her books.

I got up and packed my stuff. She held her umbrella over us as we walked to her car. She started it up her SUV and drove off. The car ride was mostly silent. I would look out the window and watch the rain continuing to pour hard, and take a few glances at Victoria, who was lost in her thoughts. I wondered what was on her mind.

"Why did your dad marry Libby?" She asked me all of the sudden.

I looked at her, a bit surprised that she still remembered Libby's name, even though I told her that almost two months ago. She glared at me, forgetting the road for a moment, waiting for me to answer.

"Well Mike and Eliza were high school sweethearts. They got married in Las Vegas and nine months, had me. Or as Eliza calls me, the Precious one," She giggled and I couldn't help, but smile, hearing her musical laugh. "Anyway," I continued "They loved me, but after the first few months of marriage, they started to fight. Constantly. They practically threatened to rip each other's heads off. Finally fifteen months later, they got a divorce, but had shared custody of me. My mom stayed in Albuquerque while Mike moved to California. Dad met Libby a few moths ago. She was new at his law firm attorney and he helped her out and showed her around. Pretty soon they became friends and then got closer and closer until they started dating,"

I shivered, remembering a time I walked in on them making out in the living room. That was, without a doubt, the most disturbing-not to mention disgusting-sight I ever saw. I felt like gagging, remembering it.

"The next thing I knew," I went on "They got married," I shrugged. "My dad really wasn't interested in dating after his spilt from Eliza. I guess Libby is…the world to him. She makes him happy." The attraction, however, was still a mystery to me.

"Do you approve?" She asked me.

I shrugged again. "Does it matter? As long as he's happy and in love with her, I suppose it's okay."

She nodded her head and returned her gaze to the road. The silent dragged on for awhile. I looked out the window, seeing she was driving fast; the speeds of her driving made things flash as we passed them.

"That's very generous," She said; flickering her eyes at me. I looked at her and she smiled. "I wonder if your dad would do the same for you."

"Maybe," I shrugged. "Well enough about me. Tell me about you."

"What about me?" She asked.

"Well the Rains adopted you, right?" I asked her.

She nodded. "That is correct."

"Well what happened to your parents?"

"They died many years ago." Her tone was a matter-of-fact.

"Oh," I mumbled. "I'm sorry."

"It's aright," She said. "I don't really remember them that clearly. Carlisle and Emma have been my parents for as long as I could remember."

"And you love them?" I realized I didn't need to ask her that since it was pretty obvious by the way she talks about them.

"And your brothers and sisters?" I asked.

She parked her SUV in front of my house. It amazed me that she was able to find it, even though I didn't give her directions. I couldn't tell we were near the house because of rain that made it look too blurry.

She checked the clock on the dashboard. "My siblings-Rose especially-will get mad at me for making them wait in the rain. I should get going."

"Okay." I didn't want to leave the car though. I liked being alone with her, getting to know her a bit. "Are you going to be here tomorrow?"

She shook her head. "We're going camping tomorrow and for the rest of the weekend."

"Oh," I couldn't help, but feel a bit disappointed. "Well I hope you have fun."

"Thank you," She said. "But can you do me a small favor?"

"Sure. Anything." I said.

"Don't be offended, but you seem like one of those people who can attract accidents within a ten-mile radar. I'm asking you to please be careful and safe." She said, her eyes pleading.

"Okay. I promise." I told her. Then I just gazed at her. And she gazed back at me. It was silent for a moment, as we gaze at each other, neither of us moving or making a sound. Looking at her, I almost forgot how to breathe.

Victoria hesitated for moment, but slowly placed her cool fingers on my cheek and caressed it. I shivered a bit by her touch since her fingers were cold, but I liked it a lot. I liked her touching my cheek; it was sort-of pleasurable. Without even thinking about it, I leaned in closer to her, my eyes still gazing at hers. Our faces were less than two inches away from each other, lips were close enough for us to kiss each other. Those strange feeling started up again, and kicked my insides-_hard. _Victoria was still like a statue, only looking at me, with her fingers still brushing against my cheek. Neither of us moved or made a sound. I couldn't help thinking about what it would be like kissing her, what it would be like having our lips covering each other. Her lips were full and perfect, covered by a coat of soft pink sheer lipstick, looking kissable and perfect again.

Victoria sighed and slowly looked away, slowly taking her hand back. "You should go inside, Zane."

I grabbed my backpack, put on my hood, and got out of the car.

Victoria waved at me with a tiny smile as she drove away. I waved back at her, but a bit too late, and walked inside the house. I was smiling, thinking about this afternoon, thinking about Victoria's smile, that can lit up a room and identical to an angel, and her laughter, that sounds like music.

**Victoria's POV**

After I dropped him off, I went back to school and got my siblings. Rosalina, of course, was complaining that I took too long and the rain soaked her so-called expensive, one-of-the-kind clothes. Alice, on the other hand, was squealing all the way on the ride home when I told them the reason why I came so late. Elliot smirked. (Typically him). Jasper just nodded, understanding, and kept quiet. (That's one of the reasons why Jasper is my favorite brother. Unlike Elliot, he at lease knows when to shut his mouth and keep quiet).

We reached home and were greeted by our mother figure, Emma. While Carlisle is the working parent, she is the stay home mom. We all packed for our camping trip, and I was the first one done. I went to my room, placed my packed suitcases by the door, and sat on the couch, watching the rain fall outside my window.

My room is rather big, than again all the rooms in our house is huge. Rosalina has the biggest room out of all of us, and yet still complains that it's not big enough for her. My room has shelves filled with CDs', mostly with classical music, and a lot of books, also classical books. There's complete furniture set in black leather, but no bed. A stereo, quite huge and a little expensive. Also a huge white fireplace. A huge walk-in closet filled with clothes, but it's not as huge as my sisters' closets. And a balcony that has a great view of the meadow that's near the house.

I was sitting on my black leather seat, my favorite seat, curled up into a ball, and looked out my balcony, watching the rain pour. Thankfully it will be nice weather for the weekend. Often when it rains, I watch the rain and my head are filled with thoughts. I watched the rain for awhile, still curled into a ball with legs up in the seat and my arms wrapped my knees, and got a bit bored. I opened my mouth and started to sing my lullaby.

My singing is truly a unique sound. It sounds powerful like an opera's singer, but is graceful and low like a siren. In fact, my singing is a siren; some would call it a siren song. Sometimes when we hunt, I use my siren song to call my prey, the animals. It makes hunting a bit easier because we don't have to waste energy finding them.

My siren song also works on other people; I try not to do that. Once a person hears my siren song, they become completely under my control. When they hear me, they'll follow the siren song, leading them to me, under a trance and in my control. I can will them to do anything. I used the siren song on two people once along, long time ago, and let's just say things didn't end well-for them mostly. Since then, I've only sung to the animals or to myself when I'm alone.

Occasionally I would go to a place where I can be left alone and just sing, enjoying the beautiful sound I hear, and feeling wonderful and satisfied, knowing I'm making that beautiful sound.

I could tell my adoptive family stopped and listened to my singing. Sometimes they think I was a descendant of an opera singer.

_Such a marvelous sound,_ Carlisle thought.

_I have to admit, she really does knows how to sing_, Rosalina thought.

_Singing likeness to an angel_, Emma thought.

_That girl has to be a descendant of an opera singer. No one can sing that good,_ Elliot thought.

_A marvelous sound indeed_, Jasper thought.

_If she becomes a singer, I bet she'll even be better than Mariah Carey_, Alice thought while packing her things for the camping trip.

I shook my head, smiling, as I continued to sing my siren lullaby. Alice told me that over a trillion times.

Another strange fact about me; I 'm a mind-reader. I'm able to hear the thoughts and voices of people around me. All expect for one-Zane. For some reason, I'm unable to read his mind and I don't know why. Perhaps his mind doesn't work like others.

I heard a light knock on my door. I stopped signing, turned to the door, and said "Come in. Emma."

Emma entered the room; she didn't ask me how I knew it was her. Everyone in my family has a hearing that's like a bat. And with my mind- reading, I was able to know it was her.

Emma is our adoptive mother, but she's young to be our eldest sister. (Carlisle is young enough to be considered our eldest brother) Like us, she is pale but has a bit of a camel color, and has dark eyes, which can shift to gold color, and is also extraordinary beautiful. She has a beautiful model-like face, a drop-dead gorgeous body, and dark brown mid-length hair which is in a crop bob hairstyle.

"I hope I wasn't interrupting you, sweetheart." She said, kissing my forehead.

"You weren't," I smiled at her. "I was just thinking about some things."

Emma slowly brushed my hair back with her cool fingers and smiled back at me. "May I braid your hair?' She asked.

"Sure, if you want to." I said.

Emma grabbed a brush and comb, got behind me, and started doing my hair. My sisters and Emma love doing my hair, playing with it, and doing braids. Rosalina even compare out hair to see which one is sleek and long. After comparing it, twelve times, we saw that mine was.

"So how was your afternoon, Victoria?" Emma asked me. No doubt Alice with her big mouth already told her about what I did this afternoon. I readied her mind, and saw I was right.

"It was very…good." I said. I couldn't help, but smile a bit, thinking about it.

"That's very good, sweetie." She said, grinning.

_I think someone got bitten by the love bug_, she thought.

"No I didn't." I objected, reading her thought.

"If you say so," Emma said, giving my hair a gentle tug. "But something tells me that you may be like this boy," She kissed my head and gently squeezed my shoulder. "What's his name? How old is he?"

Before I could even answer, Alice burst into my room and loudly announced "His name is Zane LaForne! He's the new kid in our school and the lucky guy who got his ass saved by Victoria," She beamed at me. "You so like him!"

"Get out Alice before I kick your little pixie ass!" I said, throwing a hard-cover book at her. She closed the door before the book hit her. She giggled as she went downstairs.

"Oh, so is that the boy?" Emma asked me.

I sighed with a small smile and slowly nodded my head. I readied Emma's thoughts and knew she was happy for me.

"Really. You must be fond of this boy. Is he cute?" Emma asked.

If I could blush, I knew I would feel heat in my cheeks and they'd turn a bit red. "He's……cute. Actually, more than cute. He's really handsome. He has dark chestnut brown shaggy hair," My mind started to wander as I thought about him. "Very beautiful blue ocean-like eyes. And he's also different from most boys. There's something about him I can't describe, but it makes him very different from any boy I've ever met. The strange thing about him is that I can't read his mind. And also I crave him."

Emma was bursting in joys for me in her mind, probably not hearing the last thing I said, but kept her cool. "I think you really like this boy," She said. She pecked my cheek. "I'm positive he likes you as well. After all sweetie, what's there not to like about you."

She pulled back from me when she was finally done. I got up from the chair and looked at my reflection in the mirror. My long deep, midnight black hair was in a slim braid. I nodded, approving and loved it.

"Thank you, Emma. I love it." I said, giving her a hug.

_Victoria needs a special someone in her life. Who knows? Maybe this Zane boy could be the one for her,_ Emma thought.

"I doubt that." I said, reading her mind.

Emma shook her head while smiling. "I should have known you would be listening to my thoughts." She said. She kissed my cheek, patted my head, and left my room.

Alice then bounced into my room and hugged me tight. "Hey V," She said. V is her nickname for me. "Listen, since we're not going to be here for the weekend, I want to go shopping now. Me and Rose are going to a few thrift and vintage shops and the mall. You want to come?"

I couldn't help, but playfully roll my eyes. My sisters and I do love to shop, but out of the three of us, Rosalina and Alice are the real shopaholics. I do love shopping, but unlike my sisters, I don't max out my credit cards and come home with a thousand-and-one shopping bags.

"Sure, sounds like fun." I said.

Alice pecked my cheek and hugged me tighter. "Awesome. We're leaving in five minutes, so get ready."

_Maybe she can get some sexy clothes for her boyfriend, Zany_, Alice thought, giggling at her joke.

"He's not my boyfriend, Alice. He's just a new friend." I told her, punching her arm.

"I hope so." said a voice.

We turned around to Rosalina, who was leaning against my bedroom doorframe, with her arms folded against her chest, giving us but mostly me a stren glare. "Even though he's cute, he's the same as the rest of them," She turned to me. "Victoria, you should just forget about him."

I rolled my eyes. Rosalina is the oldest sister; Alice is the second-oldest, while I'm the youngest. She can be very…difficult most of the time, and also a complete bitch all of the time. She still is mad about the accident and me for almost exposing us. Not only that, but she is a bit jealous of me because I'm just as pretty as she is. People can't tell between us who is the most gorgeous one. Like that actually matters to me. To Rosalina, beauty means absolutely everything. She is also a bit jealous of me because Zane is fond of me instead of adoring her. Even though she has Elliot, she says she's just use to boys admiring her, falling for her, and kissing the ground she walks on.

_That boy is nothing, but trouble. The more you get involved with him, the more danger you'll bring not only to him, but to us as well. You nearly exposed us!_ She thought.

"I know, Rose, okay! How many times do you have to remind me about it?!!!" I exclaimed.

"Just drop it, Rose, okay!" Alice said. Alice isn't a mind-reader like me, but could easily tell Rosalina was never going to let that accident go.

Rosalina ignored her and walked toward me, placing her hand on my shoulder while brushing her long pale blonde hair back with her other hand from her eyes, giving me what-looked-to-be a sympathy look. "Look Victoria, you're my sister and I care about you. I know I can be _a little_ annoying-"

"_A little?!_" Alice said, cutting her off. _Try a huge royal pain in the ass_, she thought.

Rosalina shot her a dark glare and turned back to me. "Anyway I know I can be annoying-_sometimes_. But still you should forget about Zane and stay away from him. He'll just cause nothing, but trouble," She then played with a strand of my hair that was hanging and brushed back in its place. "Besides, he's not one of us, little sister." She added, sounding for a moment like a wise elder woman.

"And thank you so much Rose for killing a mood," Alice said, and then shooed us out of my room. "Let's go ladies. We're leaving tomorrow and I definitely need to go shopping."

"Fine. Let's go," Rosalina said as we headed downstairs. "I want to go to Bebe first."

"No way!" Alice objected as we got into my car. "I want to go to the thrift shops. New things came in today."

As my sisters bickered about what store they wan to go to first, I started up the engine of my car and drove to the biggest mall in Albuquerque. Ironically, its call the North Albuq. Super mall. It has all of our favorite stores, so my sisters won't have to argue. While I was driving, my mind started to wander, thinking about him. I remembered what Emma's and Alice's thought were about me liking Zane. I smiled a tiny bit; I sort of like him-_only a little_. But as I thought about what Rosalina said, my small smile disappeared. Sadly, she was right. The more time I am around him, the more dangerous things will get. I like Zane and want him to be safe, but if I slip, even for a second, I could endanger him. And that is one thing I never want to do. But there is a part of me, the beast within me that craves for him. I have to do everything I can to control that part of me. But unfortunately I can't help it. The way he is, his wonderful scent, his adorable good looks; it's hard to resist and I'm mostly unable to.

Zane is different from any boy I've ever met. While there is part of me that craves him, there is another part of me that has a different feeling. It's like a craving, but more than that. Like a desire. When I'm near him, I always have those feelings. I feel…drawn to him, somehow in a way. A feeling that was new and strange to me, for never have I felt this strange feeling in decades.


	6. Chapter 6

"Hey Mom, what do you know about Victoria Rain?" I asked Eliza as I took a bite of my fried Chinese chicken. My mom and I were digging into our Chinese takeout, which was our dinner for tonight. Each of us had about three cans of Bud light beer, and I was now drinking soda to wash out the liquor in my system. I couldn't get Victoria out of my head all day. I kept thinking about her, drawing her in my sketchbook, nearly filling up my book, and even daydreaming about her suddenly appearing at my house, waiting outside for me and I kissed her long and hard on the lips, never wanting to let go ever again. Then we would pull back and looked deeply into each other's eyes, and kissed again, longer and harder and even deeper than before.

Okay, I admit I like her a lot, and that could happen, even though there's a huge part of me that's screaming it never will.

But I'm also very curious about her. You would think a girl that beautiful and mysterious would be the most popular girl in school. But in East High, the Rains are popular with their looks, but their social lives are one good mystery that can keep you at night. Absolutely no one knows about them, even Amanda doesn't and she's the school scoop and gossip queen who knows practically everything about everyone. The Rains are the only people in the whole school who she doesn't know about.

Eliza took some bites of her beef-fried rice and looked up at me surprised, surprised and looked smugly, like I told her a huge secret. She wiped her mouth with a napkin and a smirk began showing on her face. "Why do you ask? Do you have a crush on her?"

I groaned, slapping my forehead with my hand. This was just like my first day of school all over again, with me questioning about Victoria to Amanda. Expect this time, my mom was the middle-aged, chestnut-brown short-haired woman version of Amanda. "Mom," I whined, groaning. I couldn't tell her about my crush on Victoria. That would just be too damn embarrassing.

Mom gave me a smile that she said she thought my crush was cute, which only made my face blush crimson red. "Well I know some things about the Rains, since their father works in the same hospital as I do, but I also don't know a whole lot."

"Well, what do you know about them?" I asked her.

"Let's see…"Eliza took nearly a mintue to think about it while I was sitting across from her, wishing she would hurry up, as if my life depended on her knowledge. "The Rains moved here about two years ago from cold Alaska. Dr. Carlisle was offered lots of jobs from over a thousand different hospitals that paid triple a doctor's salary. But still, he chose to come work here. The staff was worried that he'd be inexperienced because of his age, but was most than shocked by his history and experienced. His knowledge of medical field and medicine was even more impressed than a college Professor. I met his wife, Emma, and by god Zane, she was absolutely beautiful. Then again the whole family is beautiful. She's a very lovely person, though I must admit I mistaken her for a collage senior because of her very young looks, and even looks too young to have kids. The town was worried that we were going to have some problems with the Rains because of all their adopted. But we haven't even had a single problem with them, unlike most kids whose families lived here for generations."

"But what do you know about the _Rains_?" I asked.

Eliza smiled her smugly smile at me, while playing her sesame noodles. "Alright Mr. Cranky, I tell what I know. First off, the family loves to go camping lot, and every month they take two weekends off to go the woods. Elliot is the eldest of the bunch, Rosalina is the second-oldest and eldest of the girls, Jasper and Alice are the middle children, and Victoria is the youngest and also the most mature. That girl is really quite lovely, but just likes keeping to herself. When I talked to her, she was very polite like her mother, but I could tell she wanted to be left alone. Now that I think about it, the more I realize that you two would make an excellent couple. You both act very mature for your age and don't act like two seventeen year olds. Maybe if you two get together, you could teach each other how to have some teenage fun. You would make a cute couple."

I looked at her shocked, with my blue eyes wide and nearly choked on my chicken wing. I didn't expect her to say _that_. I had to drink lots of soda and water to calm down my nearly-choking coughs. Eliza patted my back to make sure I don't choke and tried to hold in her laughter, thinking this meant I was too embarrassed by my crush.

When we both finally calmed down, we finished our dinner and had brownie fudge chocolate ice cream for dessert, nearly finishing a whole gallon of it. Then I just went to my room and fell asleep in bed. Though my eyes were closed, I felt a cool breeze, though the window wasn't opened. I could someone hovering over me, watching me with careful eyes. The person quickly yet gently touched my cheek, the coolness of their fingers giving me a chill and made turn to my left. Then I heard her say only two words to me, speaking softly like angel, and her smooth voice like velvet the words were whispered in my ear.

"Be safe."

I liked to say that the next day of school was okay, but it wasn't. It was alright I guess, because I aced three pop quizzes, they served decent hamburgers for lunch today. Amanda and Chelsea were planning to go to the mall next Monday, and, after long begging and persuading, were able to convince me, Jack, and Ricky to come with them. They only wanted us to come with them, because they needed someone to carry all their shopping bags.

Girls, they're all the same. Actually most are the same while one certain girl is an expectation, who I can't and probably will never understand. I couldn't get her out of my head all day. I just kept thinking about her, kept on drawing her face in my sketchbook until it was completely full, and just couldn't get her out of my mind that kept showing her face in my head. Some people would say I'm in love with her, but I'm not!

Don't get me wrong, I know she's attractive, actually beautiful and gorgeous are the right terms for her. I know I definitely like her, even though she doesn't always open herself to me. But love? Love is what my mom and dad had when they first got married, but it was more like a fling or plain old lust that quickly died months later after they got married. My dad and Libby are in lovey-dovey love with all their hugging and kissing, but to me it's more like a strange attraction like opposites attracting. Love is what you see actors portray in romance movies, like _the Notebook_ and _Titanic_. Love is what you read in romance novels. Those don't really describe love, but only show and try to describe how it is. I will admit I had a few crushes in my life, like some female celebrities and a few girls back in LA, but I never felt strongly or deeply about them or care for them, like I do with Victoria. She's different, and that's both a good and odd thing. It's odd to me how she makes me feel. How her presence always me feel those strong yet strange fuzzy feelings with the millions butterflies crammed in my stomach, trying to bust out; how I nearly forget to breath every time she's in the same room as me; how a simple giggle or smile from her makes my heart beat fast; how she always stuns me with her beauty and mysterious personality, and how every single time I think about her, my heart beat twice as fast, I suddenly start to feel sweat, and heat creeps upon my face, causing it to blush to a dark, crimson red color.

My cheeks started to feel warm, getting hotter and hotter by the second, as I thought about that possibility. Could I love her? Could I be in love with Victoria?

_Victoria_, I sighed, as I tried desperately to forget about her to get some sleep, but soon realized it was useless. In my head, my mind began playing a short film movie about me with her. I was realized my mind was beginning my dream.

_It was dark; the time was close to midnight. I was in these strange woods with her, and her back was to me. She was ahead of me, walking faster and faster by the second while I, running with everything I had, was barely keeping up with her. She kept saying over and over the same things she told me in school earlier, at lunch and at the library. "We shouldn't be friends," "You should really stay away from me," "What if I'm not the hero, what if I'm the bad guy? The villain?"_

_She was practically zooming away in slow motion and I was trying everything I could to keep up with her. "You shouldn't be here," Her words came out in a murmur, but, though I was more than thirty feet away from her, I was able to hear her as clear as crystal, as though she was whispering the words loudly in my ear. "I'm something you wouldn't to be a hundred feet near. I'm dangerous. You could get hurt by being around me. You could be endangered. Please just leave me alone!" _

_I tried desperately to catch up with her, but she kept on going faster and faster, and my legs felt like they were on fire, threatening to collapse any minute. "VICTORIA, PLEASE WAIT!" I yelled at her, my lungs feeling sore with pain because of the running._

_She stopped for a spilt moment, and I did. I took that opportunity to catch my breath, panting heavily as I collapsed on ground, kneeling down. My legs hurt like hell, feeling like they couldn't make it another step; my thighs felt like they were on fire, aching from the burning pain I just put them through. When I finally caught my breath, I slowly got up and looked around where we were now. I realized we reached the end of the woods, and we were now in the center of a meadow, surrounding with beautiful flowers and soft, green grass. I could hear a pond nearby, with the water slowly drifting off to its course. Victoria and I were two feet away from each other, with Victoria keeping her distance from me, wrapping her arms around herself and hugged herself, keeping her head down. _

_I just stared at her back, as she listened to the quietness around us. Nothing made a sound or even moved. A light breeze hit our faces, playing with our hair, blowing it gently. The wind however, like the surrounding in the meadows, didn't make a single sound. I slowly made my way toward her, taking each step with caution. Victoria could hear my footsteps, even though I was being as quiet as a mouse. She tried to keep the barrier between us more distance. But before she could take another step, I grabbed her hand, holding it firmly and tightly in mine, stopping her. Victoria was still like a statue, as I held her hand tightly with everything I had. Despite her tiny petite size, I knew deep down she could easily escaped my grip, that something, something inside me that was very deep told me that she was much stronger than me, like she could easily break my hand if she wanted to. But still she just let me hold her hand, without saying anything, not even a word to me. _

_I slowly turned her to me, so that now she was facing me. But still she kept her head down, as if she was ashamed of herself. I slowly put one finger under her delicate yet cold chin, and, very gently and slowly, titled her head up, so now she was looking at me. Victoria looked up at me, her eyes were a dark shade of gold and lavender bags are under her eyes, and her midnight black hair was in a ponytail, shimmering under the moonlight. I gazed at her as she gazed at me, both of us lost in each other's eyes, searching deeply in our eyes for something, something true. _

_Finally I broke the silent, whispering very quietly "I don't believe you're as bad as you say and think you are. I don't believe that."_

_Victoria, hesitantly at first, finally caressed my right cheek. I shivered in, not chill by the coolness of her fingertips, but delight and pleasure. She caressed my cheek as she searched deeply in my cobalt eyes. "I'm not like you, Zane. I am different. I'm something that you should never be around with," She said. "Something that can endanger your life, bring you pain and suffering. Something that can hurt people like you. Something, so bad and so dangerous, that I can even kill you. I could easily end your life if I wanted to." She slowly put her hand down. _

_I knew she said the last part more clearly and boldly, wanting me to consider her words and ran far, far away and never look back. But I stood right where I was. I wouldn't do that. I wasn't just about to walk away from her. She connected to me as I am to her; right then and there she was the only thing that matters to me. _

"_I'm not afraid of you, Victoria. You could be the soul-stealing devil, who could just take my soul by the snap of your fingers, and I still wouldn't care. Because as far as I'm concerned, you're the best thing that has ever happened. I'm not afraid of you."_

"_You should be." She said, slowly hugging herself again._

"_Well I'm not!" I outburst. My outburst caused her to look at me again. Neither of us moved or made a single sound. The only thing making noise was my breathing. "What are you Victoria?"_

_She looked at me for the longest. To me, it was long hours, but in reality, it was only ten whole minutes. Our gazes were long but also longing and intense, as if we were sharing a kiss. She hesitated, but slowly opened her mouth. But before she could say a word…._

"Owhf!" I exclaimed, as I fall out of bed, landing hard on my back which was aching with pain. "Oh my Jesus freaking Christ!" I groaned, pissed off. I finally got myself off the floor, holding my aching back with my right hand, massaging it. I can't believe it, I honestly can't frigging believe it! The dream…it was so real, so intense. I can't believe the minute I was just about to find out who (or what) Victoria is, I apparently decided to fall right out the fucking bed, waking myself up.

I was pissed, I was mad. And I also couldn't understand. I couldn't understand my dream. I couldn't tell whether my dream was a good dream or a nightmare.

Victoria….she was trying to tell me something, something that warned me to stay away from her. She said she wasn't like me, that she was something that can hurt me, something that could kill me.

As I laid my head on the pillow and covered my body with the thin white sheet, my mind began to wander back to the dream. That night(or rather morning, since it was now 4 A.M) I made a vow to myself that I will figure out what Victoria, and also promising myself that no matter how bad it is or may be, I will not judge her.

Victoria's POV 

I stretched out my arms as I got up from my sleeping bag, standing up in the big tent I was sharing with Alice and Jasper. I was suppose to bunk with Rosalina, but she was already bunking with Elliot. And knowing those two and how _activate _they are with each other, they would not want company around. Even though Alice and Jasper are very affection toward each other, they only are in private. And Alice, herself, said that she wouldn't mind my company.

I know what you're thinking. Why are my siblings together? Well, technically, we aren't really related, we're just foster siblings. Rosalina and Elliot are very affection to each other, which can be very, very annoying when they do it 24/7. Alice and Jasper are soul mates, just like Rosalina and Elliot, but they're not flamboyant about their relationship in public. Thank God.

And me? Well, obviously a lot of boys in my school want me to their girlfriend, but I'm really not interested in any of them. I never really met anyone I liked…until recently. I couldn't get him out of mind, but also didn't want to. Everytime his face appears in my head, my mind would always go on a trip. He makes me feel…something. Something I haven't felt…in decades. And as much as I don't want to admit it, I actually, might possibly like him. But I shouldn't feel like this. It could bring danger to not only me, but to my family and Zane, too.

But it's not easy, I can tell you that. Everytime he nears me, I could just look into his eyes and just lost in them. His eyes are so beautiful, in a brilliant shade of blue that can make you feel like you're looking into the wide ocean. Everytime he nears me, I take a quick a minute to memorize his face, drinking in every cute and handsome feature. Everytime he nears me, my nostrils are immediately filled with his delicious scent. And everytime I inhale his scent, the creature, the beast within me, starts to come alive, fierce and strong, nearly taking control of me. I can't give into that creature, I can't give into that. It's not easy controlling that beast. That is why most of the time when he nears me, I keep my distance away from him. But even that doesn't help me. His scent is so wonderful, so tasty…

I immediately snapped out of my train of thoughts. I took calm, relaxing breath as I hugged myself, not giving the beast the satisfaction. After moments of taking calm breaths and hugging myself, I was finally relaxed, for the time being. I took that opportunity to get dressed for another day of 'camping'. I went through my night bag, sorting through my clothes, until I found something decent. I wore a simple, white cotton tank top, dark black boot-cut jeans that were surprisingly quite relaxing, and black flat ankle-length boots. I put my midnight black hair in a high ponytail. All ready and set for the day, I exited the tent, with my arms folded against my chest. I looked up at the morning sky, greeted by the bright, morning sun. Without having the need to hide anything, I just threw my head back and spread out my arms, feeling the nice sun on my skin, feeling the sun's glow traveling and dancing around my skin.

"Morning, V. How's our sunshine girl?" I didn't need to turn around since I knew it was Alice. But still, slowly I turned to her, eyeing her outfit and seeing it was slimier to mine, expect her tank top was red with black graphic. Alice walked over to me and wrapped her arms around me, planting a noisy peck on my cheek before nuzzling into my shoulder.

"Ready to go hunting?" I asked her. The hunting yesterday wasn't that bad. I didn't use my singing to call my prey, but with my speed and strength, I was able to get a lot. My siblings and I always have a bet every time we go camping, betting which one of us are able to get the most from hunting. Yesterday Elliot and Rosalina were the winners, but today I was determined to win.

"V, can you tell me something?" Alice asked.

"Sure, what is it?" I said.

"Do you like Zane?" She said, turned her head toward me, looking me straight in the eyes.

My dark gold eyes blinked wide, as I pulled back from my sister and turned to her, shocked and surprised. If I could blush, my cheeks would be crimson red by now.

"Well, do you?" Alice, my mischievous older sister, smiled smugly. "Come on, V, you can tell me. We're more than just sisters, we're best friends. You can tell me anything."

That is true, which sometimes can be unfortunate whenever she acts like pest who gets on my nerves. Alice is my best friend. I can tell her anything, I usually do. Beneath all that pest-ness and annoyance, Alice is a really good listener. I took a long, good look at my sister and just told her everything, how I'm attracted to him and about my problem with my inner beast whenever I smell his scent. When I done, Alice beamed at me and clapped her hands in delight, while jumping up and down like a happy little girl.

"I knew it, I knew it, I knew it! You do like him! Well, thank god, because it's about time when you start liking someone. And you've fallen for Zane!" She continued with her beaming attitude, still jumping as she clapped her hands.

I just rolled my eyes at her, and took a walk through the woods. The walk turned out to be short, and I was standing in front of a peaceful lake. I kneeled in front of it, as my ears slowly picked up the quiet and calming sound of the river. I picked up a small twig nearby and dipped it in the water, swirling the twig around in the pond as I created circles in the pond. The circles started out as small, swirling around by the motion of the twig, until they got big enough and disappeared in water and new circles were being created. I continued this exercise for a few more minutes without stopping, watching the circles as they were being swirled around and around.

I felt someone approaching me and standing a distance. I didn't need to turn around to know who it was. "I'm sorry for what I did," Alice said, facing my back. "I was just excited because you're alone, V. I mean Rosalina has Elliot and I have Jasper. Carlisle has Emma. You're the only one in the clan who doesn't have anybody. Maybe Zane is the one for you, the one who will be bring you happiness and love. Who might also be your soul mate."

"But that's impossible!" I exclaimed, the loudness of my outburst caused Alice to jump. I took a few moments to close my eyes and calm myself down. When I was finally calm enough, I took a deep breath and re-opened my eyes. I wrapped my arms around myself, hugging myself as I stared at my reflection in the lake. "I shouldn't be this way. I shouldn't feel this way at all." I said quietly.

Alice walked by the left side and kneeled down beside me. She placed her right hand on my shoulder and gently rubbed it, trying to calm and sooth me. "There's nothing wrong with being in love, Victoria. We may be different from other people in our school, but even people like us can feel love, too. If this boy is truly the one for you, then you must go to him."

Love? The word stuck in my head, creating thousands of possibilities. Could I love him? Could I love Zane? Well, I wouldn't lie to you, I do feel…attracted to him. And I do like him…a lot, even more than I'll admit. I feel very protective of him, like I should be watching his every move, making sure no harm comes to him. Any possible harm, including me.

"But I can't _be _around him, Alice. That's the one and only big problem. I different from him, I could endanger him and bring danger to our family, too," I said. "And I shouldn't be in love with him. I can't. I just can't."

Alice rolled her eyes and said "Don't go off quoting Rose, V, because you're starting to let her influence your mind. Victoria, I know you as well you know yourself and can tell in your eyes that you do feel something pure and true for this boy. Stop worrying about what could happen and what if, and stop focusing on today. Start thinking about this moment. Look I know we have rules and all, but rules are meant to be bent and broken, and even we can't help who we fall for. Not even you. The thing that matters Victoria is your heart."

Though we both know that my heart hasn't exactly been beating for awhile, I knew what she meant. She meant to take a chance, to bend the rules a bit. I sighed as I took a look at ourselves in the lake's reflection and dropped the twig into the water, making our reflection shatter in the water. Alice just held me tight, letting me rest my head on her shoulders.


	7. Chapter 7

Saturday came and went. I spent most of it reading some mysteries novels I brought along with me from California and surfed the web on the Dell computer Eliza got for me for my room. I spent most of Saturday morning just doing that: reading and surfing the world-wide web. Then later, after noontime, Eliza suggested that I get out of the house and do something activate. So I went to the beach that was a few miles away from home. The beach wasn't too crowded, since it wasn't a bright day and cloudy, but I noticed a group of people gathered around this Indian elder storyteller, who was telling them old tells about tribe's legends.

Since there was nothing better to do, I joined the group and listened closely to the storyteller. He told us this legend about the 'Cold Ones', people who are not like us, but different. He described them as super humans, who have amazing abilities that can similar to a superhero's, even adding they're even more significant than superheroes.

I was curious about the cold ones, since they sounded awfully familiar though I couldn't put my finger on it. I raised my hand and asked the Indian storyteller what the cold ones were, but before he could even say a single word, rain began to pour hard. It was pouring unbelievably hard, like someone was pouring buckets and buckets of heavy water from the sky.

I ran as fast I could to my truck and drove as fast as I could home, but by the time I got back, I was soaking wet. Even my wife-beater shirt and blue boxers were soaked. Eliza turned to me as soon as she heard the door open and burst into uncontrollable laughter, seeing I was wet.

After that I just slept through most of the day, but before I went to bed that night, I did some research on the internet and found out that there was a book on the Quileutes "Cold ones" legends. I found out they sold the copy of the book at a bookstore in a mall that's a few miles away from my house. I made a note to myself to check out that bookstore and get the book.

Sunday morning was surprisingly bright. Eliza had to work that day and was long gone, so that just left me alone in the house with my bowl of cereal with milk that I was having for breakfast. Then as I was taking another bite, I got a call from Amanda. She said that she couldn't make our plans to go to the mall on tomorrow, because she had this date with Douglas Manson, the quarterback of our football team and also a class-A asshole, jerk. So she asked if we could do our shopping today. Since I had nothing else to do, I agreed.

I finished my cereal and drunk the remaining milk, washed the bowl in the sink, and put it in the cabinet. After that, I went to the bathroom where I brushed my teeth and took a quick shower. Then escaped to my room, went through my closet, and threw some decent clothes: a plain, white t-shirt, bleach blue baggy jeans, white sneakers, and added my gray zipped-up hoodie sweatshirt jacket and black leather jacket, both that I left unzipped, showing my t-shirt and needed since, even though it was bright today, the weather was low seventy degrees.

I heard a honk honking outside and knew Amanda and the guys were here. I grabbed my wallet, filled with cash I've been saving since the move, and left the house, locking and shutting the door behind me. I was greeted by the guys and greeted them back as I got into the backseat of Amanda's red Volvo.

Amanda drove much faster than I do with my truck, and got us to the mall in less than an hour, which was normally a two-hour drive from here. The mall was called North Albuq. Super mall, and, man, was it _huge_! It was twelve times bigger than the super mall we have in LA. The mall was twenty stories high filled with every kind of store from clothes to shoes, from toys to books. They had over twenty restaurants, including a huge food court.

The girls weren't kidding when they said they were going to every store department store in the mall until they find the perfect dresses. They, including us (against our will) went through every store in the first and second floor, fishing through the store's racks for dresses in their sizes, and trying them on in the dressing rooms. Whatever they don't like, which was really everything, Jack, Ricky, and I-the lackeys-had to put back on the shelves.

We were now at this store called Bebe, the seventeenth store in the mall we've been to. The girls took over twenty dresses to the dressing rooms and the guys and I had to wait, in case they hand us the ones they don't want.

"Ew, I look horrible in this. I don't even know why I picked it!" Amanda whined, tossing a butter-yellow strapless dress over the changing rooms' door.

"Maybe, because it matched your hair." Jack guessed which caused Amanda to poke her head through the door and shot him a cold, death glare.

"Just put the dress back on the rack, you asswipe." She ordered, like a princess, and then went back into her changing room to change into something else.

Jack rolled his eyes at his sister, but put the dress back, only doing it because he wasn't in the mood for Amanda's princess crap. Chelsea then came out, wearing a soft green spaghetti-strapped dress that really brought out the dark green color of her hazel eyes. She did a small twirl, turned to us, and asked nervously "What do you think?"

"I think you look amazing," Rick said, which brought a smile to her face and a blush color to his. I could already tell that they're crushing on each other, since after all they're going to the dance together.

Ricky and Chelsea stared long and hard into each other's eyes, smiling at each other. I couldn't help, but think about that's how normally I stare at Victoria and she stares at me. Though we don't always smile at each other, the way Chelsea and Ricky were looking at each other was pretty much the same way we look at each other, like we were the only thing that mattered in the world. Thinking about Victoria brought hot warmness to my cheeks, made my legs go numb and weak, and my heart beating as fast a drum beat.

"Hey Zane," Jack said, bringing me out of my trance. "Are you sure you don't want go to dance?"

I shook my head. Everyone in my school acts as if the spring dance was prom night. Everyone going with everyone, some with their dream dates, some with friends, some just going solo. While Ricky and Chelsea are going with each other as a date, Jack's taking Rachel Simmons, a cute brunette girl in our algebra class, and Amanda said she's going with two dates: Douglas and Michael Benner. I still haven't told my friends about my plans about going out of town with Victoria. They already knew that I plan to go out of town that Saturday, the same day for the dance. But don't know about Victoria going with me. Even though they're my close friends, I didn't tell them this because I like keeping this to myself, like she was a secret I like to keep and not tell anyone about.

"Well, maybe you'll go with us to prom with Ellie. We can all triple-date." Ricky said, taking away the three reject dresses from Amanda and putting them back in the racks.

"Yeah, sure-" I began to say automatically until I realized what he just said. "Excuse me, say what?!!!! What are you talking about?!"

Amanda then came out of her changing room, trying on a simple black little strapless dress that she seemed to like a lot. She adored her reflection as she looked at herself in the mirror. "Ellie told us, including the whole school, that you're taking her to prom." She said casually, fixing her blonde hair as she fixed her dress.

"_WHAT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_" I exploded. My outburst caused Ricky and Chelsea to break their crushy-love gaze, and everyone jumped before they looked at me.

"Ellie told everyone that you're taking her to prom." Chelsea said gently, not wanting me to scream again.

"Oh my god of the fucking Christ!" I groaned, slapping my forehead hard with the heel of my hand, banging my head against the dressing room wall. I stood still for a few moments, slowly taking in the shock I was feeling that quickly changing to irritation, until I slowly put my hand down and looked at my friends. "Why the hell does she think I'm taking her to prom?" For one thing I wasn't even sure if I was going to the prom. And even if I was, there's no way I'm taking annoying-pain-in-the-ass, follows-me-everywhere-around-classes, Ellie Adams. She's still trying to make it up to me, since her truck almost killed me, even though I told her a million times she doesn't have to.

"I told you it wasn't true, Missy nosy." Jack whispered to Amanda.

Finally the girls settled for the dresses they were wearing now: Chelsea in the soft green strappy dress and Amanda in the little black one. They still said even though they have their dresses, they still need to get the right accessories, the right shoes, and the right makeup. Us guys groaned in irritation. To them it meant more shopping , but to us, it meant more bags to hold and stores to go. Luckily I thought fast and said I wanted to go check out the bookstore, which wasn't a totally lie since I really wanted to get more books. The guys were willing to go with me, actually more like begging, but Amanda, our high main princess, said I could I go but she still needed the Ricky and Jack's help.

Ricky and Jack groaned again and shot me the death look, but by then I was already long gone. The mall had about six different bookstores, some that were normal like Borders and Barnes&Nobels while others were weird, selling books about spiritual healing. After buying seven new books, I didn't want to go back to meet with guys, since I knew Amanda and Chelsea were still shopping for things, so I just left the mall and took a walk around the boardwalk that was near.

The boardwalk, called Port Angeles, was a beautiful tourist attraction, much more polished, fun-looking, and quaint than Albuquerque. I walked through the streets, which were filling up with end-of-the-workday traffic, and I hoped I was heading downtown. Each step I took, I tried not to think about her, thinking about her glossy black hair, her vivid beauty, her beautiful, soulful eyes. I tried, but was failing with each step I took. I cussed myself for being an idiot and not asking her for her phone number. I longed to have that number, so I could call her. I longed to hear her angelic, soft and velvet voice. _Idiot dumbass_, I cursed myself again.

I started to realize, as I crossed another road, that I was heading the wrong direction. I saw little foot traffic that was heading north, and what looked like buildings from a distance turned out to be warehouses. I decide to turn east at the next corner, and then loop around after a few blocks and try my luck on a different street to hopefully found my way back to the boardwalk.

A group of four men turned around the same corner I was heading for, dressed too casually to be heading home after work, but too grimy to be tourists. I looked at them, realizing they weren't a few years older than me. They were joking and laughing too loudly among themselves, laughing retardly like they were drunk and punching each other arms.

"What up, a-hole!" one of them called out to me. Two of them paused who looked older, the other two who looked my age or at least one or two years older, were moving slowly. The closet was a heavyset, dark-haired guy who appeared to be in his early twenties. He wore a red plaid flannel shirt that was unbuttoned, showing his greasy-stained white shirt, ripped jeans, and the new Jordan sneakers.

"Hey." I said, not in the mood to talk to some dudes who looked like drunken retards. Then I quickly looked away and walked faster toward the corner. I could hear the retards laughing at high, full volume behind me.

I found myself on a sidewalk leading past the backs of several somber-colored warehouses. The south side of the street had no sidewalk, only a chain-link fence topped with barbed wire. I wandered far past the part of Port Angeles. The sky suddenly darkened further, and, as I looked my shoulder to glare at the offending cloud, I realized with a sense of shock that two men were walking quietly twenty feet behind me.

They were the same drunk, retard group I passed at the corner, though neither was the dark one that talked to me. I turned my head forward, quickening my pace. A frightened voice in the back of my head warned me that they might be something worse than thieves.

It seemed to take forever for me to get to the corner. I kept my pace steady yet fast, the men behind me falling ever so slightly father behind me with every step. Maybe they realized they scared me and deiced that they had their fun and decided to back off. I skidded around the corner with a hopeful sigh.

The street was lined on both sides by blank, doorless, windowless walls. Lounging against the western building, midway down the street, were the two other men from the group, both watching with excited smiles as I froze dead on the sidewalk. I realized then I wasn't being followed.

I was being herded.

I paused for only a second, which felt like a very long time. I turned then and darted to the other side of the road. I had a sinking feeling in my stomach that it was a wasted attempt. The footsteps behind me were louder now.

"There you are, you bum." One said. I recognized the voice and realized it was the one of the dark-haired guy.

My steps were slow now. I realized I was closing distance between myself and the lounging pair too quickly, so I just stopped where I was.

The heavyset man shrugged away from the wall and walked slowly into the street, eyeing me with an evil, devil gleam in his eyes.

"Stay the fuck away from me." I warned, trying to sound fearless and strong.

"Or what, you'll shot me?" He said sarcastically, and the retard followers burst into laughter.

The group came closer to me, walking around me with evil smiles on their faces as they surrounded me, drinking in the fear they sensed in me. Then, just as I suspected, they brought out their weapons: sharp knifes, crowbars, and guns, some small like a hand- size while others were bigger. I took a deep breath as I braced myself, feet apart, trying to remember through my panic the self-defense move my dad taught me when I was younger for situations like this.

The heavyset leader pointed the tip of his gun at my chest, while they others paused and flashed their weapons at my sides, pointing near my skin. The leader smiled a devil-like smile as he placed his finger on the trigger, threatening to pull it. "Alright listen, bum and you better listen good, because I'm only going to say this once. Give us your money and maybe we won't hurt you."

I eyed him and, from the corner of my eye, eyed his gang. I wasn't about to give up that easily. I eyed the leader and said in my best fearless voice "Got to hell, you bastard!"

"Excuse me? What the fucking hell did you just say to me?" He said, his finger tightly on the gun's trigger.

"I said go to hell. I thought even someone as dumb and clueless as you could understand me." I said fearlessly, though inside I was quivering in fear since I was practically gambling with my life.

"Why you asshole! Hold him, Marty." He barked out. One of the men behind me held my wrists tightly before I could try to make my escape. The grip was so tight that I could the circulation on my wrists stopping, and could feel blood nearly drawn out. The leader pointed the chest more firmly into my chest, the tip contacting with my skin. I knew he was through games and was going to end my life.

"Say hello to the guards at the pearly white gates to heaven for me, bum." He finger to trigger and was about to pull it.

I braced myself.

Headlights suddenly flew around the corner, the car almost hitting the stocky one, forcing him to jump back toward the sidewalk. I was able to escape from the man's grip and the gun point, and dove into the road-this car was either going to stop or hit me. But the shiny, black SUV unexpectedly fishtailed around, skidding to a stop with the passenger door open a foot away from me.

My heart skipped many beats as I watched her get out from the car and walking toward the group. "Get in the car." She commanded.

I stumbled as I slowly got up, facing her back as she stood protectively in front of me. No way was she going to fight them. There was no fucking way I was going to let that happen. I knew that despite her petite size, she was tough, but I would never forgive myself if anything ever happened to her.

"Hey look guys. The bum actually has some sugar with him." The heavy asshole who just pointed his gun at me said, looking at her so devilish and perverted that I had a heavy and dying urge to beat the crap out of him for the way he was looking at her like she was a piece of meat.

"Hey sugar, why don't you come with us and play…" The other men said then halted, along with the others as soon as they saw her face. Though her face was undoubtedly beautiful, anger and murderous rage was written all over it. I realized the men knew how tough she saw, and feared for their lives.

I could see her cracking her hands before balling them up into hard fists that will soon do a dance on the men's faces. "Victoria, please stop." I begged her. "Just leave them alone."

She stared at the men long and hard, with murderous rage and anger in her eyes that were becoming more and more by each second. Finally, with a turn of her heel, she quickly and fluidly walked perfectly away from the now-fearing group and helped me, quickly getting me into the car and getting herlsef in.

"Put your seat belt on," She commanded in a harsh tone, already putting on hers. I was clutching onto the seat belt before realizing what she said and quickly buckled it. She started her car and immediately hit on the gas pedal with enormous, humongous power, the car spiraling toward the drunken group who barely dodged the car as it came close to hitting them. Then she spun her steering wheel around, making the car spin, until it got onto the road and drove off, nearly hitting and dodging cars as she drove fast with speed. She took a sharp left, racing forward, blowing through several stop signs without stopping. For the moment I felt utterly safe and didn't even care where we were going.

We drove in silence; I was stunned with shock with while she was silent with anger. The tension between us you could cut with a knife. I glanced at her through the darkness, eyeing her impossibly and unbelievably beauty, seeing her features was likeness to an angel's. I studied and examined her flawless features in the limited light, waiting for my breath to return to normal, until it finally occurred to me that her expression was murderously cold and angry.

After looking at her anger yet powerfully beautiful face, I finally asked her "Are you okay?"

"No," She angrily answered very quickly before I could finish my sentence. You'd have to be deaf not to pick up the anger in her voice.

Before I could say a word to her, she said quickly "Distract me please."

"Say what?" I asked her, confused.

"Distract me please," She said. "Distract me before I turn this car around and hunt down those mongrel idiots."

"Are you insane?" I exclaimed. "Those guys have weapons. Weapons that can hurt you. Just forget about them, they're just dumbasses"

"You obliviously didn't hear the revolting things they were thinking in their heads!" She fused with anger.

"And you do?" I asked her both challenging and bewildered.

She turned to me, looking at me for the first time since we ditched those drunken losers, and the car came to a sudden stop. She sighed as she switched off her car, killed the engine, and stared straight ahead. I could still see the blazing anger that remained in her eyes. I glanced around, but it was too dark to see anything besides the vague outline of dark trees crowding the roadside. I could tell we weren't in town anymore.

I reached out and turn on the lights in her car, finally lightness brightening up the darkness. I finally settled back in my seat and eyed Victoria. She wasn't looking at me or the road, she was leaning against her seat and looking up at the ceiling, the expression on her face was unreadable and revealed no emotion. Though I know she wasn't happy with me right now, I was still happy on the inside. I realized I missed her much more than I thought, though she was only gone for two days. But to me, it felt like a century. I took my time eyeing her, seeing she was still more beautiful and perfect than I last thought. Looking at her reminded her of her indescribable beauty. Her raven- black wavy, silky hair was glossy and lustrous, her skin clear and creamy, and her lips glowed in a dark red rose shade. She was simply and impossibly the most stunning, beautiful creature I had ever seen in my entire life, possibly with no doubt, the most beautiful girl in the entire world.

Victoria sighed only once, deeply, trying to clear her head. She turned to me, and our eyes met. The deep yet bright blue of my eyes connected with her dark gold eyes that were darker than I thought. We shared our usual glare: long yet longing gaze as we looked deeply into each other eyes, searching for something.

"Are you alright, Zane?" She asked. Though I could still hear anger in her voice, I also heard deep concern in her tone.

"Yeah, I'm okay," I nodded. "Are you okay? Cause you almost scared me."

"I…just…most of times…have problems with my temper. That's all." She whispered.

"Oh," I knew I sounded like a spaz, but that's the only word I knew I could use to respond to.

We sat again in silence, gazing at each other longing with intensity. Nether of us moved or said another word as we looked deeply into each other's eyes. I then glanced at the clock on the dashboard. It was past seven.

"Oh, crap. The guys must be waiting for me." I whispered. I turned to her and explained "Amanda, Jack, Ricky, and Chelsea are waiting for me at the North Albuq. Super mall.

She started the engine without saying another word, turning around smoothly and speeding back toward town. We were under the streetlights in no time, still going too fast, weaving through cars slowly cruising the boardwalk. She parallel-parked against the curb in a space I thought was too small for a SUV, but she was able to successfully slide through. I looked through the window, and, using the lights of the Papa Gino's pizza restaurant, saw the guys exiting the place.

Before I could even ask her how she knew where they would be, she was already getting out of the car, walking toward my friends. I hurried with my seatbelt and hurried out of the car.

"Hey guys!" I yelled after them. I saw Amanda and Chelsea each carrying one small, obviously light shopping bags while Jack and Ricky were each carrying over thirty shopping bags, barely keeping their grips on the bags. They turned to me and rushed toward me, with the relief showing on their faces. But soon the relief was turned into surprise with slight amusement as they saw who was standing besides me. Chelsea, Ricky, and Jack looked shocked while Amanda smiled mischievously at me, with hints of pure amusement in her smile.

"Where have you been, man? We've been looking all over the mall for you." Jack said suspiciously.

"I got lost," I admitted sheepishly. "And then I ran into Victoria." I slowly gestured my hand toward her.

I watched as Jack and Ricky took one look at Victoria and gave me a glare of approval. Amanda and Chelsea shared a look of amusement. I flushed and then blushed with embarrassment, hoping Victoria hasn't noticed the look of my face.

"Would it be alright if I give Zane a ride home?" She asked in an silken, irresistible voice with a sly smile on her face to match.

They all looked stunned and stood still for a matter of seconds. Amanda slowly shook her head, slowly breaking free of the trance. She smiled brightly at Victoria and said "Absolutely."

"Um, sorry man. But we kind of already eat while we were waiting." Ricky confessed.

"That's fine-I'm fine." I shrugged.

"Don't be ridiculous," Victoria said, slightly turning to me. "I'll get you something to eat."

Amanda's eyes lit with excitement as her eyes moved back and forth to me and Victoria, her body practically buzzing with anticipation. Jack and the others were quicker than her, and said goodbye to us. As they walked toward Amanda's red car, Amanda, who was being dragged by Jack, turned back to us, her face eager with curiosity. I waved back to her with a small and fake smile, watching as they got into the car and drove away.

"Honestly, I'm not hungry." I insisted, looking down at the petite raven-haired beauty that was standing next to me. Her expression was unreadable.

"Humor me."

There would be no further discussion about it. Two minutes later, we were seated for two at a booth table in Papa Gino's. Our server, a twenty-something, frat boy with dark thick brown hair, brought me my order: a large pepperoni pizza. He flashed Victoria a flirty smile while I scowled at him, feeling huge waves of jealously crashing over me.

"Is there anything else you want?" He clearly asked her.

"No thank you, but we would like a refill." She simply answered, picking up our empty glasses with her pale small fingers.

"I'll be right with that." He assured her with another unnecessary smile, picking up the glasses. But Victoria didn't see it; she was too busy looking at me.

When he finally left, Victoria looked at me for a long time and then glared down at my food. When she looked up at me, she said "Eat."

I picked up a slice of my pizza and took a bite of the delicious pizza. One bite turned into two, and then turned into three eaten slices. I wiped my face with a napkin, not wanting Victoria to think I was a disgusting pig. I eyed her and what she was wearing. The restaurant was well air-conditioned, but was at high maxim, making the place cold. I was wearing two jackets that kept me warm. But Victoria was dressed in a soft-looking, white shoulder-off sweater that revealed her bare shoulders, a black leather pleated-hem mini skirt that showed off her toned and amazing legs, and black leather mid-calf boots. She looked amazing and sexy, but the outfit didn't exactly look warm enough.

"Aren't you cold?" I asked her.

She seemed to be pulling out of her train of thought and was almost confused by my question. "No, I'm quite warm actually." She said, playing with the tips of her midnight hair.

I put down my fifth slice of pepperoni pizza and wiped my mouth with a napkin. "You got to give me some answers." I told her, using my best serious voice.

"Okay, I think if you take a left downtown, then go straight-" She said, trying to distract me with directions.

I cut her off and exclaimed more boldly "That's not what I meant! How did you know I'd be in Port Angeles?"

"I just feel very protective of you." She simply said. She seemed to be wavering, torn by some internal dilemma. Her eyes locked with mine, and I guessed she was trying to decide whether or not to simply tell me the truth.

"You can trust me, you know. I would never, never in a million years, do anything to hurt." I whispered to her.

"I followed you to Port Angeles," She said quietly yet quickly. "I normally never tried to keep a specific person from dangerous, be you were an expectation. I was hoping you'd be with your friends. But I was wrong. Then…I saw your face in those low-lives heads' and heard what they were thinking about doing to you. I knew I had to hurry, so I got into my car and followed the same group, leading me straight to you."

I was beyond shocked by what she just said. I took a few moments to get myself together, before taking a deep breath and asking in my calmest voice with curiosity "You read minds?"

She locked her eyes with mine again, and I guessed again she was trying to decide whether or not to tell me the whole truth. Seriousness soon shown on her emotionless face and she said seriously "I can read and hear every mind in this room expect for you," She pointed to one man who was sitting by the corner, drinking his soda while looking at a woman sitting across from him. "Sex," She said, reading what was on his mind.

She pointed to the same woman the man was looking at. "Money."

Next pointed to a serious, blonde guy who looked like the kind of person who'd want to hang around and drink at Cafes. "Sex."

Then pointed to a young woman with red short hair. "Money."

Then looked at a big, bulky and tough-looking bald-headed man who wore ripped jeans with a red t-shirt with the shelves ripped off. "Cats."

I looked at the last one she was looking at with shock and surprise. You'd never expect a tough-looking guy to be thinking about the most random thing, like a cat.

Victoria looked also surprised by the tough guy's random thought. She then turned back to me and said "But you? Nothing, at all."

"Nothing?" Victoria shook her head. "Do you think something's wrong with me?" I asked her, couldn't help but feel a bit concerned.

"I'm the one who can read minds and you think something's wrong with you." She said, and then giggled her musical giggle that I longed to hear again.

Twenty minutes, we paid our bill and were on the road again. Victoria driving me home. Everytime I glanced at her, I smiled even more than I did the last time. I was glad she trusted me with her secret that I'll never reveal to anyone. I was also glad that she was here with me. The girl saved my ass from getting killed, and I owed her my life.

We soon were in front of Eliza's house. The lights were on, my truck was in its place, and everything seemed to be averagely normal. She stopped the car in front of the house, but I didn't move and neither did she.

We just sat in her car, gazing deeply at each other, not moving a single muscle or moving an inch in our bodies. I moved closer to Victoria, breaking the barrier between us. Normally she would move, but this time she just looked at me and stayed in her place. I slowly lifted up hand and ever so gently, ran my hand through the silky mane of her hair, tenderly caressing each wavy curl with care. Her black hair shimmered under the moonlight, and she looked even more radiant in the nighttime than she does in daytime. She looked so beautiful, so natural.

Victoria hesitated for moment, but slowly placed her cool fingers on my cheek and caressed it. I shivered a bit by her touch since her fingers were cold, but I liked it a lot. I liked her touching my cheek; it was pleasurable. Without even thinking about it, I leaned in closer to her, my eyes still gazing at hers. Our faces were less than two inches away from each other; our lips were close enough for us to kiss each other. Those strange feeling started up again, and kicked my insides-_hard. _Victoria was still like a statue, only looking at me, with her fingers still brushing against my cheek. Neither of us moved or made a sound

Again, I wondered what it would be like to kiss her, to kiss those perfect and beautiful red lips of hers. Again, I wondered what it would be like to have our lips covering each other, for me to taste her sweet mouth and tongue. I thought about how our faces and lips were extremely close to each other, and wondered if we were going to kiss each other tonight.

Slowly, very slowly and without breaking eye-contact, I leaned in closer to lips now less than inch away. Victoria, without breaking our gaze, slowly leaned into me. Both of us closed our eyes as we both anticipated for what was about to happen. I could almost taste the sweetness of her lips.

But then suddenly Victoria pulled back, too quickly which made me dazed for a moment. When I looked at her, she looked ashamed of herself. I felt bad as I suddenly figured it out. She wasn't ready.

"I'm sorry." I mumbled, suddenly feeling like a asshole. Obviously this was her first kiss and she wasn't ready, other wise we'd be making out in her car right now.

"No, it's not your fault," She said, turning to me and giving me a small smile. "I'm just not…the timing just isn't right. You understand, right?"

I nodded. I was relieved and happy she wasn't mad at me, and was also glad she was giving me another chance.

"You should be getting home now." She said.

"Alright, but before I do, can I…have your phone number?" I asked her sheepishly, but was determined not to screw up again like I did the last time.

She slowly smiled a full smile at me and agreed. I exchanged my iPhone with her blackberry cell phone, and we both typed in each other's numbers. When we switched back our phones, I smiled at her and she slowly smiled at me back. "Thanks." I said to her.

"You're welcome, now you should be getting inside. Your mom's worried about you." She said.

I nodded, and opened the door unwillingly. When I slowly turned around, I saw her waving at me and driving away. I reached inside my pocket for my key, unlocked the door, and stepped inside.

"Young man, where have you been?! I was worried sick!" Eliza exclaimed the minute I locked the door and stepped inside the house, into the living room. She was sitting in the living room, dressed in her nightwear, eyeing me worriedly.

I peeled off my jackets and took a seat on the couch. "Mom, calm down. I was with the mall with my friends. Remember I told you, I would be hanging out at the mall with them."

Eliza's anger slowly disappeared from her face, sheepishness soon showing. I could see her memory was coming back to her. "Oh that's right," She said, sighing while slapping her forehead. "Zane, I'm sorry. I guess I'm just jumpy because something came up at the hospital."

"What happened?" I asked, getting into the kitchen. I reheated some of the leftover Chinese food in the microwave and brought out a Coke from the fridge, cracking the can open and taking a gulp of it.

"There was an accident," She said, her face suddenly becoming pale. "Two people who were guards of a new building being constructed got attacked by some kind of wild animals and were rushed into the hospital. They loss so much blood, had very serious bruises on their bodies, and are in critcal condition. I only hope whoever or whatever attacked them are long gone."

My face suddenly became pale, my body suddenly feeling sick and numb. I almost chocked on the soda and had to cough it out. "A wild animal?"

Eliza nodded, lost in her thoughts. I stood still in the kitchen, hearing the words Eliza just told me, but still didn't make any sense. As far as I'm concerned, there aren't any wild animals miles within here. So how two guards could be brutally attacked by them? Something, something deep in my gut told me that it was more than that. Much, much more than that, though I couldn't put my finger on it.

Later that night, I changed into my old, white wife-beater and red boxers. I was lying in bed, finishing the new action/adventure book I got from Borders today. When I was finally done with that, I put away the book and reached into my nightstand drawer, taking out the Quileutes legends book I got from a weird bookstore today. I shook with anticipation as I examined the book. The book was dark brown and looked over decades old. I slowly opened it and flipped through the darkened yellowish pages of the book, until I finally found a section on the Cold Ones. The section on them was about over thirty pages long.

Three entries caught my attention. One spoke of a cold one as a beautiful, undead being. Another as a creature beautiful to the human eyes, but deadly. The last was of a Romania one who was strong and fast, and could massacre an entire city in one night.

I read on about the cold ones and as I read their description and facts, it started to sound awfully familiar. Cold, pale skin that as pale as snow white and cold as ice; strength that can matched the same as a million men; speed that's quick as lightening; their eyes that shift color; facts that they don't eat or drink and stay as far away as possible away from the sunlight; and that their beauty is too inhumanly, too beautiful to even believe.

As I read this, my mind immediately jumped to the Rains. As unbelievable as it may be, the similarities between them and the cold ones were too scary alike that it was way more than a simple coincidence. My heart beat twice as fast as I continued to read, my heart beating faster and faster as I read about the cold ones.

They are names for the cold ones: demons, immortals, blood-suckers, and the one that really stopped my heart for a minute, vampire.

As I read the word one more time, my eyes popped the widest they've ever had. _Vampires? _I thought. _No that can't be! It just can't be!_

My mind, however, couldn't let go of the fact. And the more I thought about it and read on about the Cold ones known as vampires it strangely started to make sense. I listed again in my head the things I observed and read that were similar to each other: the impossible speed and strength, the eye color shifting from black to gold and then back to black again, the inhuman beauty, the pale, frigid skin. And more-small things that slowly crossed my mind-how they never eat, the disturbing grace with which they moved. And the way she talks sometimes with unfamiliar cadences and phrases like she's from a different time. How she can read everyone's mind…expect me. She told me she was the villain, the bad guy, dangerous…

Could the Rains be vampires?

Confused and irritated by my thoughts, I slowly closed the book. I slowly and gently placed the book on the nightstand, dedicatedly like it was fine china. Then I slowly I lay my head on the pillow and covered my body with a blanket. And slowly closed my eyes, drifting away to sleep…

_I was in the same dark woods I was in the last dream I had. The time and setting was exactly the same: midnight. I was lost in the woods, practically blinded by the darkness. I was running, running so fast like I was running for my life, running like hell in fear._

_Then suddenly I heard a voice, causing me to stop as I listened closely to the voice. The voice was singing. It was the most beautiful singing I ever heard in my life. The singing was powerful like an opera's singer, but, at the same time, was calm, soft, and soothing and beckoning like a siren song. _

_I slowly closed my eyes and listened to the wonderfully speculator music. It was calling me; the song was calling me to follow it._

"_Come to me, Zane. Follow my sweet music and come to me." The siren song whispered in my ear._

_I slowly opened my eyes, looking at the clear trait ahead of me in the woods. At the end of the clear path, I saw something. I saw a train of red silk glistening under the moonlight. The person who was holding the red silk was the same person who was singing the same beautiful song. I knew I had to follow that person, and so I did. _

_The person could hear me coming and decided to move, moving fast and quickly with such grace as I tried to catch up with them. Me legs and thighs were burning in pain from the exhaustion of running, but still I wouldn't stop. I couldn't stop. I wanted to hear that beautiful singing. Using the light of the full moon, I was able to make out the person who was singing the beautifully angelic song and holding the silk train of the long scarf. The person was a girl and even though I couldn't exactly see her, she somehow looked familiar. The girl's raven-black hair was lustrous and glossy, shimmering in the moonlight, her skin was pale white, and she wore a crimson red silk halter, slip dress and the long, red train scarf was wrapped around her shoulders, fluttering in the wind breeze. She turned her head very slightly back to me, only showing me little of her face, but I was able to get a small glimpse of her dark red rose colored, glossy lips. _

"_Come to me, Zane. Listen to my sweet music and follow me…to your death." Her singing called to me again. I was busy trying to follow her and listening to her siren song, to even remember the last thing she said._

_Her singing…it was calling me. She was calling me. I wanted her voice and wanted her, I need her. I push myself, through the burning pain in my legs, to run even faster. Just when I was about less than an inch away from her, she disappeared and so did her song. When I stopped myself, I fell to the ground in exhaustion, my legs giving out on me. Panting of exhaustion and irritation that I lost the girl and her beautiful singing, I rubbed my aching legs that felt like they were going to break any minute. _

"_My, my, my," I was started, staying still as I heard the voice that sounded strangely and awfully familiar. "Are you giving up that easily?"_

_Very slowly, I rose from the ground and just then I realized where I was. I was standing in the same meadow I dreamt of nights ago. I could still hear the pond that nearby and also heard nothing but silence. A gentle yet silent wind hit my hair and the flowers that were surrounding them, blowing them to a different direction. I noticed the flowers were different than I remembered the last time. The flowers that used to be in all different types were now roses-dark yet bright crimson red that matched the color of blood and were absolutely the most beautiful flowers I had ever seen in my life._

_But as I came close to the flowers, one of them started to move, shaking very slowly until it started to shake like crazy. As I bend down to touch it, it raised its tentacle of thrones, striking me on the upper lip and left cheek. I hissed in pain as I held my cheek and stumbled as far as I could away from the beautiful yet dangerous roses. It thrones pierced my skin, making blood drip and gush from the scratches. _

"_Dammit!" I exclaimed in pain._

"_My, my, my," I was startled as I stood up straight and turned to my back where the voice was coming from. When I turned around, my eyes popped the widest they've ever had, stunned with both shock and desire._

_Victoria Rain slowly stepped out of the trees. She was wearing the same and incredibly sexy crimson blood red dress like the mysterious girl who I was chasing earlier. I soon realized that she was the same girl. She was even wearing the same matching crimson red scarf that she wrapped around her arms like a shawl, its red train fluttering with the wind breeze. Victoria was intoxicating and mouthwatering, breathtakingly beautiful as ever. Her glossy and wavy jet-black hair was cascading down her back, like a sleek black waterfall; her beautiful red lips were plump and looked so sweet that I wanted to kiss them over and over again and again until they turn swollen red. But even though on the outside she was the same, something was screaming in my head that she was different from her usual self-and I could sense it, too. _

_Victoria slowly walked out of dark trees and stepped into the center of the meadow, taking only three steps toward me until she suddenly stopped. Her pale white skin was faintly glowing; her eyes were black and dangerous. She only held up one hand and beckoned me to come to her._

_Ignoring the voice that was screaming for me to stay away from her and listening to my heart was screaming in desire for her, I took one small step toward her. _

_Victoria smiled at me and the smile cause every bone in my body to chill in fear. She smiled an evil and bone-chilling smile, baring her pearly white and sharp teeth which I realized were her vampire fangs. I tried to stop myself, but as soon I turned around, she used her siren song which captured me, having me under her mercy. I tried to escape, I tried to run, but I couldn't. Her song and the charm of her beauty and eyes had me under her spell, making me her prisoner._

_Victoria soon stopped her song and I realized why when I stopped walking. I was already close enough to her, more than enough for her to get me and do whatever she plans to do to me. _

_Victoria took one, small step, suddenly leaping toward me and standing right in front of me. She only smiled sweetly at me, which only added more to my fears instead of calming them. She shoved me so quickly, before I could even blink, against a tall, cold tree bark which really hurt my back, causing me to wince in pain. My pain only caused her evil smile to widen. She looked deeply into my eyes as she clung tightly onto my white shirt, nearly peeling off my skin. _

"_Victoria, please!" I begged wincing in pain from her fist was practically ripping my shirt off, along with the skin of my chest. I tried to fight her off; I tried to stumble away from her. But just as I thought, she was too strong. My protests were nothing, but an easy piece of cake to her. _

"_Don't go Zane," She said, purring lustily causing my heart to beat wildly for her. "Why don't we just have some fun?"_

_While she was saying each word, she was both at the same time quickly yet slowly pushing and shoving me more and more into the tree bark, making pain burn in my back with each shove and push. I was weak, and I was powerless to fight against her. Victoria's eyes roamed around my face, until her eyes widen with pure bliss when she looked at my upper lip, eyeing the blood that gushing from it. I realized what she was up to and cussed myself for not wiping the blood off my lips. She shoved me into the bark once more, before she covered her lips with mine, sucking every dip of blood on the lips while kissing me with hot desire and passion. I was too powerless to stop her, and was even more too powerless when it came to her kisses. I was able to slowly wrap both my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me, ignoring the pain I was feeling and only focusing on the deep and hot kisses she was giving me. When her lips moved around my face and stopping at my cheek where she licked the blood there, she was ripping off my shirt and tearing it to pieces until the pieces were all on the ground, When her lips trailed down to my bare chest, sucking and leaving butterfly kisses all over it, I moaned loud and was breathing hard. One of my hands went up to her dress until it founded the tied knot that was holding her dress and slowly untied it. Soon the dress was slipping and slipping until it finally fell on the ground._

_I was struggled to pull back from her kisses and took a look at her, my heart and eyes practically melting from the sight. Victoria looked so breathtakingly beautiful in clothes, but looked even more gorgeous and outrageously, mouthwatering sexy and hot wearing only a tiny laced thong that matched the color of her dress. This girl wasn't an only a mere beautiful girl, she was the goddess of beauty, the beautiful ravenette angel that fallen from heaven, the most beautiful creature that ever lived. _

_I wanted her, I needed her. I gathered up all the strength I had in me and was able to push her down to the ground with me on top of her. I kissed every inch of her bare chest, sucking each of her breasts in my mouth. Her breasts were so delicious; they tasted so sweet like her mouth. They were also full, round, and perfect just like her. _

"_Zane," She purred in my ear, driving me even crazier. _

_I kissed every part of her upper body, sucking on her breasts repeatedly while peppering her chest and belly button with my kisses. I wanted more, I needed her. _

_Victoria then pushed me down my back as she got onto me, now the one straddling. She kissed every inch of chest, sucking on my nipples long and hard, and peppering every inch of my upper body with her sweet kisses. Then she licked her lips down to my begging penis that was screaming for her. Very slowly-and I knew she was doing this to irriate me-she unzipped my pants, and slowly pulled down my pants and boxers. I let out another sigh of pleasure as she properly postioned herself and started her thrusts, my hands never leaving her breasts. _

_"Oh fuck yeah," I grunted as she deep throated me, my breathing became heavier as I reached my climax and let out in her mouth, much to my surprise she licked me clean and swallowed._

_ Her lips founded mine again, and the fire engaged, its flames burning wildly with hot passion. Her lips trailed down to my neck and kissed it with so many kisses that I lost count. _

"_Victoria." I moaned, as I held her half-naked body tightly. I knew I was in danger, that she could do something that could end my life. But right now, with me and her finally kissing and about to make love, I didn't give a damn._

"_I'm hungry. I think I'm going to have a little _snack_." She said sweetly but then growled when she said the last words, and then sunk her teeth into my neck, piercing my flesh and began sucking every drip of my blood._

"_Stop, stop, stop!" I begged, screaming each plead louder than the last time as I struggled to push this beautiful yet dangerous, half-naked creature off my body. I could feel my blood gushing into her mouth and could feel my body becoming more and weak from the blood loss. _

"_**STOP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!**_" I screamed extremely loudly, at the top of my lungs as I woke up from the dark and deadly nightmare. I quickly felt myself, making sure the dream wasn't real and checking for any bruises, but luckily found none.

"Zane! Zane!" I could hear Eliza rushing out of her room and racing to my mine. When she opened my bedroom, she found me on the bed, shaking with fear and sweating like mad. "Zane honey, are you alright? I could hear your screaming from down the hallway."

I placed one hand over my chest, feeling heart beating too fast and practically bursting from my chest. "I just…had one hell of a nightmare." I breathed out.

Eliza walked over to me and kissed me on the forehead, and then gently rubbed my back, trying to sooth me. "Don't worry, Zany-bear," She said, using that awful name she used to call me when I was a baby. "It was just a nightmare, and nothing more."

I nodded, though I didn't believe a single word she was saying to me. My mom patted my back and kissed me one more time on the forehead, then told me go get some sleep, saying there was still three more hours until I had to get ready for school. After she left, I took the opportunity to take some slow, very big and deep breaths while trying to calm myself, which seemed nearly impossible. I slowly laid my head back on my pillow while gathering my thoughts. Images of the dream flashed in my mind: of me running for me life; the rose that slashed my upper lip and cheek; Victoria stepping out of the trees, dressed in that blood red dress; and Victoria looking into my eyes, her eyes black and dangerous filled with bloodlust, and baring her white, sharp fangs at me with a evil smile on her face. The last image caused a powerful jolt of fear to run through my body.

I knew I couldn't ignore the facts anymore, they were eating me alive. My subconscious downloaded the images I tried not to think about that appeared in nightmare into my mind, making it impossible to erase from my mind. As much as I tried not to think about it, I couldn't deny it anymore. The problem: what am I going to do now? What the fuck was I suppose to do? Call Victoria at 3:45 in the morning and said "_Hey Victoria, how are you? I'm good, thanks for asking. Guess what? Tonight I just found out that you and your family are blood-sucking vampires! Isn't that awesome?"_

Whoever says yes to that, I will hunt that person down and kick the shit out of their asses. I sighed while running my left hand through my messy dark brown hair, knowing I had to do _something. _Finally I knew what I was going to do: I was going to meet her somewhere private where I could confront her about this. I reached into my nightstand drawer, fishing for my cell phone until I finally found it. I went straight to Contacts until I finally scrolled down and found her phone number. I hit her number and texted her.

_We need to talk-Zane_

Less than a minute I got a reply from her. I readied her text message in stun silence.

_Where do you want to meet?_ She asked me

_Meet me at the north woods. Eight A.M sharp!_ I texted back to her.

I waited for ten whole minutes for her reply, seeing if she was going to meet me there. But she didn't text me back. I sighed again as I put my phone back into the drawer, only assuming things will go to plan. I knew it was wrong that I was skipping school just to talk to her, but I knew that if I talked to her about it in school, then everyone would be eavesdropping into our private conversation. Without nothing to do expect wait for the sunrise, I just closed my eyes and thankfully fell into a deep, dreamless dream….

The weather was back to its usual cloudy-but-not-rainy day, with some sunshine leaking through the clouds. When my alarm clock went off later in the early morning, I slowly reached for it and used my fist to punch it off. Remembering about my meeting with Victoria that was an hour away, I quickly yet tiredly scrambled out of bed. I hurried into the bathroom, brushing my teeth to make sure my breath doesn't reek when I talk to her, and scrubbing myself hard and long in the shower, making sure I look refreshing and don't reek like sweat. I knew I was being ridiculous since I was acting like I was getting ready for a huge date or prom, but I'm about to confront Victoria about what I discovery that could either put a damper in our relationship as friends or have her easily destroy me. Either way, I had to be ready for whatever today was going to throw at me.

I went back to my room and changed into some clean, clothes. I threw on my dark blue sweatshirt and put my old dark denim jacket over it, not bothering to button it up, put on my dark blue jeans, and slipped on my high top sneakers. I decide to leave my hair the same: shaggy and just-got-of-the-bed messy mop top. The North woods was over nine miles away from my house and time was against me, so I just skipped breakfast, hopped into my old white truck, started up the engine and drove off to the woods. I stopped by Starbucks where I got a quick and small breakfast of a plain bagel and a Cheese Danish with three large cups of extra strong coffee to keep me awake.

When I finally reached the woods, I saw she was already there. She wore a powder blue yoga hoodie sweatshirt jacket and matching waistband pants with the jacket zipper halfway up, a white lace-trim tank top, and black ankle sneakers. A dark brown/dark red vintage cross necklace hung from her, the jewels sparkling and shining; her dark black long hair was tied in a high ponytail; her face free of any makeup, expect for some soft pink sheer lipstick on her lips and black mascara, giving her a natural beauty look. She was leaning causally against the SUV's front door, with her arms folded against her chest, obviously waiting for me.

Our eyes meet as I parked my car a few feet besides her SUV and slowly got out of my truck. I watched her as she watched me, sharing our longing and intense gaze. I took a slow, deep breath, and let it out slowly. Then I started to take a few steps toward her and when I finally reached her, I deliberately walked past her, walking directly into the woods. Victoria watched me, her dark gold eyes boring into my back. She watched for awhile until she slowly and finally walked with me into the woods, with her following and me leading. As I led her deeper into the woods, I couldn't help but wonder about how this was just like the scene and setting in the dreams I had. Expect this time; I was the one who leading the way.

Finally I stopped when we reached the deep well of the woods. I could hear her trailing behind me, taking slow steps to me. I stood still in the center of the deep woods, looking straight ahead as I folded my arms against my chest. "You're impossibly fast. And strong," I began. "Your skin is pale white and ice cold. Your eyes change color. You don't eat and barely drink. You don't go into the sunlight. And they way you speak, it's like you're from a different time."

I could feel her eyes boring into my back. Her arms were also folded against her chest as she deliberately walked past me, and stood in front of me, staring straight ahead. "So…you figured it out?" Her voice, just like the expression on her face, gave away no emotion.

I slowly nodded my head, taking only three steps toward her. I stopped when I saw I was practically standing behind her. "I know what you are." I whispered.

I could feel and hear her nostrils taking in air and letting it out. She was silent as she stared straight ahead, looking at more trees and rocks that were in the woods. Finally she said in a murmur that was somehow loud and clear to me "Then say it. Loud out."

I hesitated. The word, the answer, was rising up to my throat, trying desperately to bust out. I tightly and firmly sealed my sealed my lips, not about to let the word come out.

"Say it!" She repeated more loudly, harsh ice-coldness well heard in her voice.

"Vampire." I eventually said, finally letting the word out. Though I said it as quietly as I could, the word somehow seemed to be loud, echoing in the woods and words repeating over and over until it fainted away.

Victoria finally turned around to me, her arms still stubbornly and tightly folded against her chest. She then walked in circles around me, walking around me. Finally she stopped and stood right in front of me. "And are you afraid?"

I took that moment to think about it, trying to feel the fear I should I felt the minute I found out the truth about her. I thought about the dream I had that ended up with me screaming myself awake. I thought about the dream, and realized something. Even if she was immortal, a vampire, she hasn't done anything to hurt me. She saved me from getting killed by Ellie's blue van and saved my ass from getting killed by those drunken retards who wanted to steal my money. In the nightmare, I dreamt that she was something different, something pure evil that only laughed and was pleased with other people suffering. The dark Victoria that I dreamt and feared about last night was not the real Victoria. She was evil with pure black heart that only wanted to kill me; she was a reflection of my fears of Victoria being dark and evil, and not the real Victoria herself. Though there was a tiny bit of fear in me, it was as small a grain of rice and was only unimportant to me. I listened to my heart which told me to not be afraid of her, that she wouldn't want to hurt me even though she easily could.

"No." I finally answered. I held her hand, holding it firmly and tightly in mine. Victoria was still like a statue, as I held her hand tightly with everything I had. Despite her tiny petite size, I knew deep down she could easily escaped my grip, and she could easily break my hand if she wanted to. But still she just let me hold her hand, without saying anything, not even a word to me. "I'm not afraid of you, Victoria." And I actually meant that, too. I wasn't afraid of her, I was fascinated by her. I wanted to get to know her more than anything.

She slowly let go of my hand, and wrapped her arms around herself and hugged herself. She looked deeply into my eyes as she looked deeply into mine. "I'm a killer, Zane. My kind was design to kill humans like you. Everything about me, everything about us, my kind, invites our prey in. Our looks, our scent, our voice. I could have easily killed you if I wanted to. Do you understand? I'm dangerous! I could easily break every bone in your body or easily crush your skull by simply touching your cheek. You shouldn't be around me."

"I don't care; I know you won't hurt me." I simply said.

That only caused her to scowl at me and she grabbed my arm tightly, as she walked toward some tall trees. She shoved me against a hard and cold tree bark while she walked over to the tallest tree in the whole woods with the fattest and strongest braches. "As if you could possibly fight me off!" She exclaimed. She then snapped he biggest and fattest branch of the tree, using only her right hand, and then tossed it all the way to the other woods.

I turned to the branch that was just fling across the other side. When I turned back to Victoria, I saw her standing still with anger roaring in her eyes. Then suddenly she was gone. I didn't see her hide or move away, she was just gone. My eyes scanned around for her in the woods, wondering where she could be. Until suddenly I felt a powerful push on my back, forcing me to nearly fall hard on the ground. When I turned around I saw her standing behind me and then suddenly standing in front of me. "As if you possibly outrun me!" She said.

She then turned away from, a look of disgust on her face. I stumbled, getting up, and tried to catch her. "I'm a killer. I'm design to kill people like you." She said.

"I don't care," I told her.

She suddenly stopped and turned to me. She gently shoved me against a tree bark as she got closer to me; the barrier between our faces and lips was becoming thinner and thinner. "I've killed people before. And I wanted to kill you, too. Your blood is so delicious, it sings to me. I could have easily snapped at your neck at anytime when we were alone."

"I trust you and I know you won't hurt me." I tried to assure her.

"Don't," She said, the corners of her lips slowly lifting up into a dry, dark smile.

"But I do," I said. She let go of my arms, her dark smile dissappearing, and I was able to place both my hands on hers.

She looked deeply into my eyes, searching for something deep and true in them. She slowly lifted her hand to my left cheek and caressed it gently. I shivered, but not of chill. I shivered in pure bliss and pleasure. I loved feeling her smooth hand touching my face. I slowly wrapped my arms around her and pulled her gently into a hug, embracing her in my arms. I could feel her hesitating. But very slowly, she wrapped her arms around my waist and nuzzled her head into my chest. I slowly nuzzled my cheek into her soft, silky black hair.

"You don't know how long I waited for you," Victoria murmured. "Your blood lures me to you, Zane. But I could never forgive myself or could live with myself knowing that I hurt you. You mean too much to me."

I softly kissed the top of her head, before nuzzling back into her soft and silk hair. "I know you won't Victoria. I trust you completely," I murmured, meaning each word with all my heart. "I would rather die than stay away from you."

Victoria was silent, as I gently rocked her in my arms. "Please stay very still for a moment." She nuzzled tightly into my chest, and I realized what she was doing.

She was listening to my heart.

I don't know how long we stayed in the position in the woods. Could have been a few minutes, or a few hours. I honestly didn't give a damn. But still we were stadning still in the same postion. My arms were wrapped around her waist, gently and slowly rocking her back and forth, while her head was pressing against my chest as she listened to my heart beat.

I learned three things today.

1). Victoria was a vampire.

2). There was a part of her-and I didn't know how big or strong that part might be-that thirsts for my blood.

3). I'm uncontrollably and madly, head-over-heels in love with her.

I fell in love with a vampire.


	8. Chapter 8

**Victoria POV**

I slowly opened my eyelids, awake by the dark clouds that hidden the sun. I sat up straight in my black leather sofa bed where I (fully wide awake) laid all night and stared at the dark-clouded sky for a minute, gathering my thoughts.

I can't believe he actually found out about my secret. Even though I tried hard to hide it, he, as the great Sherlock Holmes, was about to solve it. I must admit I'm very impressed. But what surprised me even more was that he wasn't afraid of me, at all. You would think a boy who just found out that the girl he likes is actually a blood-sucking vampire, but he didn't even have fear in his eyes. He looked curious, fascinated, and interested, and fired away with questions, mostly asking about my old life, the one I had before I was changed.

I told him all about my old life back in London, England in 1820, the year I was born. I don't recall too much of my old life, expect only remembering how I spent most time in the hospital from the time I was born. I was often greatly sick since I was a child. By 1837, at the age of seventeen, I was dying of a deadly Spanish disease that traveled all around London. My mother, Alexandria, and father, Andrew, were already gone. Carlisle, who was then my mother's doctor and cared for her until she died, cared for me in my last few hours. Back then, there weren't enough doctors and nurses to keep an eye on the all patients, so it would have take a long time for someone to notice I was gone. Then, just as I was about to slip away, Carlisle did something that changed me forever-he bite me. And to this day, I still remember the pain, the burning venom traveling through my body, melting my veins and feeling my heart stopping-never to beat again. When I finally woke up after that, I saw I was then at Carlisle's huge yet empty mansion-like house. When I got out of bed and surprised to see I was already wearing a white nightgown that I didn't remember putting on, I took one and good look at my reflection and gasped in shock. My skin was silky and smooth and yet ice cold and hard and was in a pale white sickly color, my eyes were in a dark red shade that matched the color of blood, my petite body was much stronger than its than I ever dreamed it would be, and the instincts kicked in, giving me the ability to heard absolutely everything going on around the house and smelling everything in the house and what was surrounding.

I remember Carlisle walking into my room, carrying tray that had a bottle of red stuff that I thought was wine, but was actually blood for me to drink, with a glass. I turned to him and asked _"What am I?"_

Carlisle didn't say anything at first and just poured me a glass of the red blood and handed it to me. Unaware that it was blood and thinking it was just red wine, I took the glass and drank it all down in less than ten seconds. As disgusting as this may sound to humans, it was the most delicious thing I had ever tasted in my life, it tasted like rich wine, the most expensive and richest wine ever made. Finally he put down the tray on the coffee table and walked over to me, placing both his hands on my shoulders, saying these words as calmly as he could _"You're a vampire now."_

It's been 172 years since then, and to this day, I still haven't aged a day old. That's the way I'm going to be for all eternity, young and beautiful, forever at seventeen.

I pulled away from my thoughts when I looked at the time and saw it was almost time to get ready for school. I went to my private bathroom where I brushed my teeth, took a shower, and washed my hair. When I went back into my room, wearing my dark red bathrobe, I was blow-drying my damp hair until I heard Alice knocking on the door excitedly.

"What is it, Alice?" I asked her.

She then came into my room, without asking me if she could come in, and smiled blissful at me. "So, are you riding with us or are you giving _him_ a ride to school?"

I rolled my eyes at her, while running a brush through my jet-black hair and blow-drying it. I readied her mind and knew what she was to up. "Let me take a wild guess. You already told the others that I'd be taking him to school?"

Alice nodded eagerly which caused me to roll my eyes at her and scowled. Of course, she told them that. Like she also told the others about where Zane and I were yesterday, instead of school. And also, thanks to her psychic visions, she saw the future and what happened between him and me, and told our family about him finding out about our secret. When I came home later that night yesterday, after dropping Zane off at his home, I was ambushed my family's stares. They all just stared at me, their faces free of any emotions until they bombed me with questions. My brothers, Alice, and Emma were happy for me since I finally founded someone that I like. Carlisle wasn't all that please at first, but then finally understood and wished me happiness. Rosalina, on the other hand, was no pleased at all, not even one bit.

I rolled my eyes again, remembering the look on my eldest sister's face. I knew deep down, very, very, very, very deep, and I am mean very deep like the center of the earth's core deep, she was a bit happy for me. But she was mostly furious. I just was going have to deal with it and ignore her, that's only way to deal with Rosy whenever she's in her moods.

"I'm just so happy for me," Alice said, giving one her famous tightly-squeezed hugs. "See, didn't I tell you that if you listened to your heart then everything will go well. And now look what happened. You got yourself a boyfriend."

I escaped her tight grip and turned back to her, giving me of my famous expressionless faces. Finally I raised my hand and thumped her on the head. "First of all, Miss Nosy, Zane _isn't _my boyfriend. He's just someone who I like hanging around with a lot, who keeps me company. And secondly, it's not over yet. We still have to deal with the Volturi."

Alice nodded, suddenly lost in her thoughts. I let down my wavy/curly black hair and took a moment to think about Volturi, scowling as I thought about them. The Volturi is a group, a family if you will, of powerful people who lead our kind. They're also immortal vampires like us, but are even more powerful. Nobody of our kind messes with them, and if you do, then you're history. They believe once a human learns the truth about our existence, then we'll be completely exposed. They believe humans can't keep their mouths shut. So if any human finds out about our secret and they found out about the human knowing, then they'll hunt down the human and killed her/him, and eliminate the vampire who told the human our secret. That only twice happened about over twenty years ago, and let me tell you it wasn't pretty.

"Don't worry, V," Alice assured me, pulling me away from my thoughts. "Unlike most humans we meet, Zane can actually keep a secret."

I slowly smiled a small, hopeful smile at her, and she smile back at me while gently squeezing my hand with soothing, encouragement. My sister then gave me a quick yet noisy peck on the cheek before she skipped out of my room, wanting to give Jasper another morning kiss even though she already gave him over ten kisses already. I rolled my eyes at her, with a small smile on her face.

I then stepped into my walk-in closet, stepping onto the soft white carpet in my closet, and went through my clothes, trying to figure out what I was going to wear today. My walk-in closet is very big and so is Alice's, but Rosalina has the biggest one out of all three out of us and her closet is twelve times bigger than a store. I divided my closet into five different sections: one section for tops such as blouses, t-shirts and tees, sweaters, and tank tops and camis; another for bottoms such as shorts, skirts, pants, and has lots of denim jeans, like about over seventy-five jeans; another for dresses from casual dresses to dressy dresses; another for shoes like sneakers, boots, stiletto heels, and sandals; and the last one is for accessories like jewelry and sunglasses, and all that stuff. Since I'm a very organize person, I color-coordinate my clothes from light colors to dark.

Finally I found the perfect outfit to wear today and took the clothes and shoes from their racks. I changed into a white Ralph Lauren black-ladled ruffle blouse, a black single-breasted waistcoat vest, dark wash denim curvy skinny jeans from GAP, and black chic leather stiletto-heeled ankle boots. For accessories, I only put on simple, small diamonds studs from Tiffany's, some black and silver-beaded bangles I got from Forever 21, and a diamond-encrusted cross pendant I also got from Tiffany's. When I looked at my full-length reflection, I was trying to figure out what to do with my hair, whether I should let it down to put it in a ponytail. Finally I just let my dark raven-black hair cascade down my shoulders, leaving it in its usual wavy and curly self. And lastly makeup. Unlike my sisters, I don't bother to put on amounts of it on my face. I believe a girl who should natural and let her real beauty show. My fingernails and toenails were already given a manicure and pedicure last night and were painted satin black, so I simply coated my lips with a dark red rose shade colored lipstick, then added a coat of matching red cherry-flavored lip-gloss, and put some black mascara on my eyelashes.

When I finally ready to go, I put on my dark black sleek sunglasses and grabbed my black leather messenger bag that looked more like a purse than a backpack, and headed downstairs. I was greeted by my family and I greeted them back. Before I left the house, I went through our fridge, which is normally empty of food and founded the two box packages of blood Carlisle got from a blood bank. I drank about four packages of blood, feeling refresh and ready. If I was going to spend some time with Zane, I have to feed more so I don't think about biting him.

I got to his house in a matter of minutes. I got out of my black SUV, rang the doorbell, waiting patiently for someone to answer. Finally I was greeted by Zane's mom, Eliza, who works with my adopted father in the hospital. "Victoria," She smiled brightly at me.

"Hello Eliza," I greeted her with a polite smile. "I was wondering if I could drive Zane to school today."

"Why of course, of course. Oh how rude of me, I'm letting you stay outside in the cold. Please come in." She gestured her hand at her house.

I stepped into the small, brick-built house and looked around. Though it size was small, it looked cozy and nice. I walked over to their TV set which had dozens of pictures of the top of it. Some were of Eliza with her friends and ex-husband A.K.A Zane's father, and some were of Zane when he was younger. I couldn't stop staring at the photo of him at the age of two and half, trying to walk toward the camera, smiling with a blue baby pacifier in his mouth. I smiled myself as I looked at the picture, thinking about how cute he was when he was little.

Eliza walked beside me and smiled herself when she looked at the picture. "He was adorable, wasn't he?"

"Yeah, he was," I nodded, and then turned to her. "By the way, where is Zane?"

"I'm either guessing his alarm clock is broken or he just refuses to wake up," Eliza said. "Don't worry, dear. I'll wake him up." I watched her as she walked over to her staircase and said very loudly, literally screaming "ZANE! Wake up! Come downstairs there's a surprise for you in the living room!"

"Jesus Christ!" I could hear him groaning as he got out of bed, not bothering to clean himself up, and came downstairs. I could hear his heartbeat when he came down, and my nostrils were filled with his wondrous, delicious scent. "What is it?" He asked his mother in the hallway.

"Go straight to the living room. There's someone here waiting to see you." His mother told him.

Zane grumbled as he starched his messy hair, letting out a tired yawn. When he walked into the living, his blue eyes that just tired a moment ago were now wide with shock when he saw me in his living room, sitting casually on the couch. "Victoria!" He exclaimed, his body language clearly saying he was stunned and shocked to actually see me in his house.

Before I could say a word to him, I pushed my sunglasses up onto my head eyed what he was wearing and burst into giggles. He wore light blue plaid boxers briefs and an old, battered-looking white wife-beater shirt. His dark chestnut brown was a giant mess, and a thin line of crusted drool had dried on one cheek. He looked ridiculous, but in a cute way.

"You know, just when I thought red was a good color on you, blue turned out to also be good for you, too." I said, with some giggles left in me.

Zane looked at me confused until he realized what he was wearing and blushed the deepest shade of red. "Oh shit!" He exclaimed, and then quickly grabbed his black leather jacket that was lounging on the chair and used it to cover himself. I couldn't help, but burst into giggles again. He scowled at me and said sarcastically "Ha, ha, ha. Very funny."

"Hush, Captain Underpants," I told him, still giggling, looking at him with a playful smile on my face. "At least I'm dressed, and not the one who's still wearing his brief undergarments!"

"Ha, ha, ha. Ladies and gentlemen, the comedian has new funny jokes." He said sarcastically again. Soon his frown turned into a smile as he listened to my giggle, and he took a seat next to me on the couch. We sat in silence for a long moment, smiling at each other and were too afraid of breaking the special connection. It was so strange to me, because I shouldn't be feeling these strange yet warm feelings when I'm with him, and yet I do whenever he's around me. It was strange because us vampires usually don't have relationships with humans, and only date people of our kind. We normally see humans as our food, our snack. But something was different about this beautiful, brilliant blue-eyed human boy sitting besides me. He always makes me feel more and more of a human than I had ever in decades, a thing I barely remember and I haven't felt since I was changed.

I looked down and used my finger to trace his left hand. His hand was so smooth, along with his entire body. It was so smooth, so soft and warm. I longed touch his skin forever, longed to hold his soft hand forever in mine. I could feel Zane shivering, and knew why. It was because of my skin. My skin, even though was soft, was hard as stone and ice-cold, making any person who touches us freeze instantly.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, locking my dark gold eyes with his deep blue ones.

"Don't be. I like the cold." He insisted, holding my hand firmly in his.

Again, we stood silent as we gazed at each other, looking deeply and intensely into each other's eyes. I slowly raised my finger and used it to trace his lips very slowly. His lips were so soft, soft as a pillow, and were perfect. I wanted to kiss them, I longed to kiss them. Zane looked into the deep wells of my dark golden eyes, and then he very slowly and gently pushed me against the couch as he got closer to me, the barrier that was keeping our lips away from each other were thinning both slowly and fast. We both had the same idea on our minds and the same look in our eyes: to kiss each other, to taste each other lips and tongues, and to kiss until time end.

I know we had a chance to kiss in my car two nights ago and I blew it. Though I couldn't read his mind, I knew he badly wanted to kiss me as much as I badly wanted to kiss him. But something…crossed my mind before our lips met.

Then, just as we were about to kiss, the same thing crosses my mind again, making me realize why I couldn't kiss him. I quickly turned away and ducked my head into my shoulder. I know remembered why I couldn't kiss him, because it was the same reason why I couldn't get too attach to him: I could easily harm him or, without being caution, rip his chest open if we kiss, or do something much more badly. I mentally slapped himself hard. I knew I hurt Zane again and I also hurt myself. We were just about to kiss again, but just like the last time I blew my chances. But I had my reasons and had to stick to them. When I lifted my head from my shoulder and turned to Zane, he looked at me with dazedness, along with confusion and great pain and hurt in his eyes, making the color of his eyes darkened to a darker blue shade.

"I'm sorry." I apologized, feeling horrible. He probably thinks I'm only playing a game with him, like I'm leading him on and teasing him, but then when we're about to get serious, I bail out.

"It's okay," He told me, rubbing my back soothingly, making me smile a bit. When I looked up at him again, I saw a real smile on his face along with a smile in his eyes.

"So, anyway," I said, pulling away from his touch. "We better get ready for school, and as much as you look good in your underwear, you better change into some clothes." I teased him, saying the last part and burst into giggles again.

Zane blushed a bright red color, looking down at his attire, clearly embarrassed as he remembered he was still dressed in front of me. He quickly excused himself and ran upstairs to his room, cussing with each step he took. I cupped my mouth with my hand as an eruption of giggles escaped my lips, hearing him recite "Fucking shit!" over a dozen times.

Ten minutes later, he came back downstairs. His teeth was brushed and his breath smelt minty, his hair was neatly and casually combed, and was dressed in a bright blue t-shirt that made his blue eyes look more beautiful, big, and blue, dark denim Old Navy jeans, and black Converse sneakers. His mother made breakfast for the both of us, handing me an extra plate of bacon and scramble eggs. But I politely turned it down, saying I wasn't hungry, and just had a cup of coffee.

Soon, after breakfast, we both said goodbye to Eliza and got into my car. Ten minutes later after a short ride of silent driving, I parked my car into school's parking lot. I looked at Zane and saw how he looked scared, scared and uncertain of something.

"Are you alright?" I asked him concernedly.

"I'm….just nervous." He quietly answered.

"Nervous?" That confused me. He didn't seem like a shy boy. "Why are you nervous about?"

He hesitated for a long moment before slowly turning to me. I gave him a soothing smile as I gave his hand an assuring squeeze, as lightly as I could without hurting him. "Just about people. The way they look me, it's like it's the first day of school all over again. And the way they look at you and your family, it's like you're celebrities. I'm just nervous about what they'll think about when they see us…you know, together."

"Don't be," I assured him. "Let them think what they want. People will always have judgment on others and there's nothing you can do about it, expect ignore it. Everything will be okay."

He nodded and slowly smiled at me, which made me smile back at him. We grabbed our backpacks and got out of the car. Zane walked over to my side, and held out his hand, with a smile slowly creeping onto his lips. I put my sunglasses back on and then took a deep breath and returned his smile, as I slowly placed my small pale hand in his larger one. Zane gently stroked my hand and firmly clasped it. We both slowly walked into the school, walking confidently with our heads held high and being stared by practically everyone in the parking lot. I saw my siblings getting out of Rosalina's glossy BMW red convertible, eyeing us-mostly me-with watchful eyes, each one had a different expression on their faces when we walked by them.

Alice had a blissful and eager smile. Typically her. Elliot wore a proud, smugly smirk, which is really typically of him. Jasper had a look of curiosity. Rosalina was disapproving, which is really no surprised there, wearing a scowl when we passed her. I readied each of their minds.

_They look so cute together; I wouldn't be surprise if I see wedding bells in their future_, Alice thought.

_Victoria got a boyfriend, Victoria got a boyfriend. Vicky and Zany sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then comes Vicky with a baby carriage_. You don't have to be Sherlock to figure out that's what my oldest yet very annoying Elliot was thinking.

_She does look happy. I am glad for her. I wonder if he's her soul mate, _Jasper thought curiously.

_I cannot believe her!!!! She knows what will happen if things get bad and that slime ball human blabs out our secret. __**THAT BASTARD HUMAN WILL RUIN EVERYTHING!!!!!!!!!!!!**_Rosalina screamed in her head, but then her next thoughts were surprisingly calmer and softer. _I have to admit, though I'll never say this out loud, she does look happy_, she thought and slowly smiled a very tiny, half-smile. _Even though I don't approve of him being a human, I'm at least happy for Victoria. She looks happy, and deserves someone in her life. I just hope he treats her good; otherwise he's a dead man when I'm through with him. _

Hearing that last thought brought slowly brought a smile to my face. Rosalina can be a real bitch, but very occasionally she can really come through and be a good sister.

"What's with the smile? Hear any good thoughts?" Zane teased and whispered very quickly the last part, wrapping his right arm around my shoulder, bringing me closer to him. That gesture caused over a hundred people to freeze and stared at us as we passed them.

"Yeah," I nodded, resting my head on his shoulder. That little movement caused his heart to beat fast and caused his face to blush red. I let out quiet giggles, my smile widening.

When we finally reached his locker, his friends were waiting for him at the front door to their history class with Ms. Gold. They looked stunned when they saw me with Zane, but soon smiled eagerly with amusement, wondering if we're a couple now. "I guess that's my cue to leave. I see you later, okay." I told him, slowly tucking a loss strand of his hair back neatly in its place.

I was about to walk away, on my way to French class. But before I could even take two steps, Zane grabbed my arm and pulled me back to him. When I turned back to him, his face flushed with nervousness.

"Would you maybe…want to…do lunch again?" He said in a quick rush, very nervously. Luckily I had good hearing, so I was able to make out his words.

I smiled at him as I tucked in a loose curl behind my ear. "Okay," I nodded. "Meet me in the field that's behind the school. I'll be waiting for you under the big oak tree."

"See you there." He beamed.

I beamed back to him and did something that caught us both off guard. I kissed him-but not on the lips. I lightly and quickly kissed his forehead, my cool lips lingering on his warm, soft skin.

Zane, along with everyone else in the hallways who were witnessing that part including Jasper and Alice and even the teachers, was shocked. I slowly pulled back and looked straight at him, seeing a very bright red shade coloring his cheeks. I smiled again, thinking it was cute.

"I'll see you later." I murmured and then quickly pressed my lips against his warm and soft left cheek. I then waved goodbye and walked away with my head held high, ignoring the stares people gave me as I passed. I could feel Zane's wide blue eyes watching me in a daze as I walked away.

"OMG!!!!" Alice shrieked when I come over to her and Jasper, who were lounging across the wall next to our French class. She pulled me into her nearly-crushing, squeezing hugs and shrieked "OMG, I didn't know you had it in you! That was so bold of you!" She squeezed me even tighter, while my brother Jasper was shaking his head with a playful smile playing on his lips.

Alice bombed me with questions the minute all three of us walked into French class and took our seats in the back row. Alice kept on asking and asking more and more questions until finally our French teacher, Mr. Orlando walked in and started the French lesson.

*****

Alice and I walked out of our Algebra class and went to our lockers, putting our math books away and getting ready for lunch. When I told my sister/best friend why I couldn't sit with her and the rest of my siblings at lunch, she was practically bursting out of her skin in excitement and joy. I rolled my eyes at her, grabbed my bag, and exited through the school's back doors, walking straight into the field.

I stood still for a moment and took a deep breath in, inhaling the field's nature scent. I then located my favorite place in the field: the big oak tree. Whenever I don't sit with my siblings during lunch, I always come here to escape and clear my head of all thoughts. I went over to the tree and sat down, putting my bag down and wrapping my arm securely around it and rested my back against the tree's soft bark.

In the cafeteria, thought I wasn't in it, I could hear every person's thought. My senses told me Zane was there and he was talking to Amanda Cross, one of his friends who also loves to gossip.

"So, talk me everything!" I heard her demanding. "Does she like you? Do you like her? For God's sake, Zane, tell me!"

I heard him sighing, obviously tired of all her questions. "Amanda, can we please drop the subject?" He begged her.

"Absolutely not!" She exclaimed. "Come on, Zane. Please tell me! Please!"

I heard him sigh again. I closed my eyes and concreted hard, successfully able to get inside Amanda's head, seeing what she was seeing. Zane was blushing again as he wondered how to reply to her question while he bought an extra lunch for two. The lunch was burgers and French fries. He turned to Amanda, his face still slightly blushed, and said "If it will finally shut you up, then yes," He took a deep breath. "I do like her!"

Amanda looked at him in stunned silence until she jumped up and down while clapping and smiling in delight. The way she was acting reminded me of Alice. "OMG, I knew it! I knew it! I knew it, I knew it, I knew it. You, so, like her!" She then paused and looked at him, holding her hand out like she was stopping traffic. "Have you asked her out yet? Did she say yes!? Come on, tell me, tell me, tell me!"

"Slow down, Ms. Bladder mouth," Zane said, cupping his hand over her mouth to shut her big mouth up. "No, she didn't say yes because I haven't asked her out yet."

"Well, when are you are?" Amanda said, when Zane finally put his hand away from her mouth. Using her eyes, I was able to see that they were done purchasing their lunches and were now getting soda from the vending machines.

Zane looked nervously, his blush becoming redder and redder. "It's not like that, Amanda. It's…complicated." He finally answered, having both me and Amanda confused.

"What's so complicated about it?" Amanda asked him. "I thought you like her."

"I _do_ like her." Zane said, bit defensively.

"Then why don't you ask her out?" Amanda challenged. "How much do you actually like her?"

Zane's expression started to saddened, making me confused. "That's the problem. I'm way into her-_way_ too much." He answered. "I like her way more than she likes me."

After hearing that, I pulled out from Amanda's head. I sighed, resting my back more on the tree bark and brought my knees up, wrapping my arms around them. He thinks he likes me way more than I like him. That's absurd! I care for him just as much as he cares for me-way too much. But I understood why he felt that way and couldn't blame him. He felt that way because he wanted us to kiss, but the problem was everytime we come close to kissing, I suddenly pull back. He thinks I'm probably just messing around and playing games with him.

_Why don't you kiss him?_ A voice in my head said.

I sighed, couldn't even remember the answers to that question. That's problem Alice was talking to me about when we went camping: I'm thinking too much about the future. I'm worrying about what could happen and what if, instead of just enjoying the present. But that's a habit I have trouble shaking. I've been a worrier of the future and its possibilities since I was a small child.

I took another deep breath and slowly let it go as I closed my eyes, drifting off…not to sleep, but to the train of my thoughts…

Though my eyes were closed I knew someone was hovering over me, watching me as I was in deep thought with my eyes closed, looking like I was sleeping. I inhaled their scent and knew it wasn't my siblings or one of my school mates, it was him. I heard him put his tray of food down on the green grass, felt his presence as he kneeled down beside me, and felt his hand slowly stroking my dark black hair, brushing it away from my eyes.

I felt his lips smiling as he stroked my hair. "Is someone sleepy?"

"I don't sleep, remember?" I told him, opening my eyes and seeing my senses were right, as usual. Zane was kneeling besides me, stroking my hair with one hand.

"Don't vampires always sleep in coffins? You know, like Dracula?" He asked, sitting besides me and resting his back against the tree.

I rolled my eyes, while shaking my head no. I know what you're thinking. Aren't all those things that they show and write in vampires' movies, shows, and books true? They are most certainly are not! I mean, come on. Sunlight making us weak and turning us to ashes; the taste and smell of garlic draining our energy; that we sleep in all day and only come out at night. That's a bunch of rubbish, completely ridiculous.

"You've been watching way too many vampire movies. None of that is true." I told him.

"See then it probably wasn't a good idea to buy an extra lunch for you?" He asked me, showing me a tray of extra lunches: one of him and another for me.

For his sake, I took the extra plate of food and was going to eat it, though I really don't eat human food.

"So, question?" He questioned.

"Alright, what is it?" I said.

"Can vampires eat at all? Do they still eat people food?"

Instead of answering those questions, I decided to demonstrate. I splashed ketchup and mustard onto the hamburger meat and put the bun on top. Then I showed off the burger to him, and took a big bite of it, biting off a big one-third of the burger and chewing it a few times before I swallowed it down. I wiped my mouth with a napkin, and then smirked at a very stunned, with-his-mouth-open-wide Zane. "Tada." I said, doing Jazz fingers, like I just performed a magic trick.

He stared at me with his huge blue eyes, stunned. "We can eat," I answered. "But there's really not reason for us to, since food is just tasteless to us and tastes like nothing."

"So, you don't taste anything when you eat human food? Anything at all?" He asked me.

I shook my head, casually taking another bite of the burger though I couldn't enjoy its taste. "Nothing at all," I said with a shrug. "I could eat all the food in the world and never gain a pound, since the food just disappears in our systems."

"So coffins, garlic, the stakes, and sunlight? Those aren't really true." He said, finished with his burger and moving onto his fries.

"None are true," I said, shaking my head. "We don't sleep at all so I don't know how that theory of us sleeping in coffins came up. Garlic…its reek and is only dangerous to our breath, but can't really harm us. As for the sunlight…it doesn't harm us, but we still can't go out in public during the sunny daylight."

"Why, will it hurt you?" He said, looking at me concerned, which made me smile a bit.

"It doesn't hurt us," His worry was replaced with a relief smile. "However, it can expose our secret if we go out in public. Whenever we're under sunlight, the sunlight's rays will cause our bodies to sparkle like a million rhimstones."

"So that way you and your family chose to move here," He said, figuring out the rest without my assistances. "Because Albuquerque, New Mexico is one of the rainiest and also the sunless places in the world."

"We were going to move to London, but Alice insisted that we come here. And now I'm glad we did." I smiled at him, slowly, while being caution, cuddling up onto him. I smiled more, hearing his heartbeat going as fast as our speed when I nuzzled my head on his shoulder. I could easily tell he was blushing again. He blushes way too easily, but still it was so cute to me.

He smiled, too, despite his blush and quick-sounding heartbeat as he wrapped one arm around my shoulder, bringing us closer together. We then started talking about absolutely everything, as if we were long time friends reuniting. We talked about our hobbies, music and books which were practically endless since we both enjoy reading and music is a big part of our lives, and about our lives in different places. I was telling him about all the places my family has been to before: Paris, New York City, Rome, Sweden, South Africa, Canada, and Italy. He told me all about his childhood in LA where he lived his dad, and the places where he has visited too like New York, Europe, Canada, and Boston, adding he loved all those places the most. And we both found out that we both are quite fond of Michael Jackson, that we both think he's the greatest entertainer in the world and has absolutely amazing songs.

Not to brag or anything, but I actually meet Michael Jackson five times. And let me tell you, he's one of the nicest, most down-to-earth people you'll ever meet. I still remember when Alice fainted all those five times we meet him and Jasper had to carry her back home.

Zane looked a bit jealous because I got to meet our idol, but soon laughed when I told him how Alice fainted all those times we met him. We just did that all throughout lunch period: talk nonstop about absolutely everything. But when we had about five minutes left to kill before the bell rang, I asked him a question that really caught him off guard.

"Do you truly believe you care for me more than I do for you?"

He seemed puzzled by my question. He seemed to remember about his conversation with Amanda, and looked at me with a confused look, probably wondering how I was able to hear that.

"I have good hearing." I said.

He nodded, and then looked embarrassed. He rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, a habit he does whenever he's nervous. Finally he sighed and turned to me. "Yeah, sometimes I do."

"Well, you're wrong about that." I answered, almost getting angry but after seeing how nervous he was, I decided to drop it. I ran my hand through his thick dark chestnut hair. I then planted a quick peck on his cheek, making him blush bright red which made me giggle. He then did something that caught both of us off surprise: he kissed me on the left corner of my lips, nearly kissing me fully on the lips. When he slowly pulled back, I looked at him surprised. I knew if I could blush again, my cheeks would be burning up by now and be in a bright red color. My surprise caused him to blush again. I turned his head to me, and smiled again at him while caressing his left cheek. He then smiled at me and nuzzled his head on my shoulder. At first I hesitated, but soon didn't mind it.

*****

**Zane's POV**

Did I knew today was going to turn into something like this? Hell no! It wasn't like I imagine, but was glad that what happened today happened. I will admit I nearly died of embarrassment when Eliza yelled at me to go downstairs and I went, but then saw Victoria Rain actually in my living room, sitting on the couch and giggling. When I looked down and realized why, I nearly died. I was dressed in my fucking pajamas and showed them off in front of the girl of my dreams. How embarrassing was that? I wish to God someone would've given me a warning.

But the best thing that happened: she actually kissed me. Okay, I will admit I was hoping she would kiss my lips, but feeling her cool lips on my cheek and forehead felt so good, that I practically melted.

When I got home, I got jump-start on my homework, studying hard especially in math since my Math teacher, Mr. Walker has been up my ass for trying to do better in math. By the time I was done with my leftover lasagna, Eliza came back from work, looking extremely tired since she worked three triple shifts. She was already in bed, fast asleep, by the time I got out of the shower. I could her loud snoring in my room as I changed to my red boxers and battered wife-beater shirt that I planned to wear to bed.

Before I went to bed, I got about over a dozen calls. Most from my friends, mostly from Amanda who demanded to know more about what's going on between me and Victoria; calls from Carla Carly, Libby twenty-two year old, cool yet sometimes crazy daughter who's also my new stepsister who goes to NYC and lives in New York; and calls from Mike who wanted to know how I was doing.

"Dad," I whined after Mike asked me if there are any girls who caught my eye.

"What I'm wondering. Excuse me for asking my seventeen-year-old son if there's a special girl in his life," He said. Even though I couldn't see him, I knew he was smirking and probably whispering or mouthing all this to Libby while he was also trying to persuade some information about my secret dream girl from me. . "Come on, Zane. I know you even better than I know myself and can tell by your embarrass tone that there is a special girl in your life. "

_Should I tell him about Victoria? _I thought. "Um…." I hesitated.

"I knew it! Who is she? What she's like? Is she a pretty girl?" Mike fired questions at me.

"First off, calm down. Second yes, she's pretty-correction; she's completely, unbelievably gorgeous. She's this mysterious girl who goes to my school; she has long, silk jet-black hair; and her name is-"

"Victoria Rain." Someone answered for me, cutting me off.

When I turned around to my window, where the voice was coming from, my heart immediately jumped and I had to cover my hand over my chest to keep my heart inside my chest. Victoria was lounging on the hedge of my window, casually swinging my legs and smiling smugly at me when she saw the shock, scared-to-death expression on my face. She was still wearing her school clothes and looked impossibly beautiful as always. She held up her left hand and waved smugly at me.

"Um, Dad, I have to go." I quickly said in the phone, and then quickly hung on. When I looked at her, I just shook my head at her and waited for my heartbeat to come down. "How did you get in here?" I asked her.

"Window." She said, pointing to my slightly-cracked window.

"My room's up the second floor, so how the hell did you get here? What did you turn into a bat and fly?" I teased.

She glared at me and then threw a pillow at my head, hitting me with perfect aim. "I climb onto some tree branches and opened the door."

I patted the empty half of my bed for her sit down. And after looking at it for a few seconds, she finally got up and planted her bum on my bed, sitting next to me. I turned to her, nervously rubbing my head. Well, what do you expect? There's a girl in my room! I cleared my throat and asked her "So, what brings you here on a school night," I checked my alarm clock to see the time. "At 11:45 P.M"

She giggled, and a smile instantly lit up my face, despite my slight blush and embarrassment. I noticed that since we've been spending a lot of time together, she's been smiling and giggling more often now. I loved hearing her laugh and thought her smile was the most dazzling smile I've ever seen. Finally when she calmed herself down, things got quieter as she was silent, looking serious. She then straightened herself up and turned to me. "I just had to see you again."

"Why?" I asked her, not that I was complaining. The most perfect girl in the world actually wanted to spend time with a boring guy like me. Who the hell am I to complain?

"I trust you entirely, Zane. In fact, I've grown quite fond of you," She turned to me, a smile slowly creeping onto her lips. "I thought it was just your blood that lures me to you, but I was wrong. It was also your personality and charming looks. That's why I'm so drawn to you."

"Well, what's why I'm drawn to you, too. You're different and that's what I like about you. You're above and beyond any girl I've ever met; you're the most beautiful girl in the entire universe; and, even though you don't always open up to me, I think you're the coolest girl I've ever known." I told her.

She giggled softly and then sighed. "The strange thing is Zane; vampires normally don't have relationship with humans since we can live forever while they can't. We normally have soul-mates or otherwise known as our other halves. Everyone in my family has a soul-mate. But I trust you completely and have great, strong feelings for you. And now…I think I just found mine." She said, looking straight at me.

"Me?" I murmured, puzzled. Me her soul-mate? I felt a mixture of confusion, love, and hope at the possible. I was puzzled, I was shocked. I knew I have strong, deep feelings for the girl, but a soul-mate is the one who you're destined to spend the rest of your life with. Could I possibly be Victoria's?

She nodded. "Without a doubt in my mind."

"But are you sure?" I noticed once I said that her small smile completely vanished and sadness was written on her face. My heart clench, seeing her sad, and then sunk because I was the one who caused her sadness. "I care about you, Victoria. In fact, I think I might possibly feel more than just likeness toward you. I think I may love you. But it's just that I don't want you to regret picking me later. Let's face it. You're so beautiful and flawless while I'm just average and boring. Why would a girl like you possibly be interested in a boring guy like me?"

She cupped my face with her cold, small hands and caressed both my cheeks tenderly, though I could see in her eyes she was trying to control herself. "I like _you_ for you. You misread yourself, Mr. LaForne, because to me and everyone else you're everything but ordinary."

Hearing that just made my day and my heart flutter. I smiled at her and she smiled at me back. Then we started to glare deeply into our eyes, becoming lost as bright ocean blue and dark butterscotch gold collided. "There's just one thing I wanna try," Victoria murmured, suddenly and slowly moving closer to me. "You be very still."

All the blood rushed to my head when I felt her cool, mint breath on my face, hitting my cheeks. I felt my heart was going to explode any minute as she come closer to me, her eyes roaming around my face until they finally settled on my lips. The next thing I knew, before I could even blink, her cool lips collided with my warm ones. I slowly closed my eyes in pure heaven. The second our lips were together, I feel the burning fire engaging.

You know that feeling in romance books? When the couple finally kiss and they feel the sparks. They feel the love they share for each other and both of their feelings are out on display for the world to see. As corny and cheesy as it sounds that's how I felt. I don't mean to sound like a girl, but that's honestly how I felt the second my lips touched hers. I felt absolutely everything when you kiss the right person for you.

Now I kissed a few girls at parties, two at different rock'n'roll, and one girl during a game of Truth or Dare, but this kiss was different in a very good, amazing way. This kiss really and so very was passionate and deep and also sweet and soft. It was filled with pure deep affection, passion, and love as our lips moved in slow, perfect sync. I treasured it like it was fine gold or diamonds and wouldn't trade it for anything in the world. We felt those more than wonderful and incredible feelings that they describe how lovers feel when they kissed as we shared our special kiss: our knees suddenly becoming weak; the butterflies in my stomach finally bursting out and become amazing, sizzling sparks that were flying like crazy and speculator like fireworks on the 4th of July; feeling like we were melting to the ground; the feeling of love we were feeling as we kissed; and the world stopped spinning and everything around us disappeared, and the only thing that mattered was us. Now I never believed in love at first sight, but after kissing and feeling what it was like kissing the girl of my dreams, I was now a firm believer in it.

My heart was practically going to jump out of my chest as my tongue was granted entrance to her sweet mouth and tongue. Her mouth was so sweet; it tasted sweeter and better than any candy or dessert I ever had in my entire life. It tasted as sweet as rich chocolate, a hot fudge sundae, or a vanilla milkshake.

"We shouldn't be doing this." Victoria said, as we were kissing. She stands on her knees on my bed and wrapped both her arms around my neck, careful not to harm me.

"I don't care." I said, wrapping my arms around her petite waist and bringing her closer to me, our lips remained attached to each other like super glue.

"I would die if anything ever happened to you." She murmured, our lips still moving as one.

I quickly shook my head as we continued to kiss. "I would rather die than stay away from you."

She giggled, still kissing me as she murmured "So the lion fell in love with a lamb."

"What a stupid lamb."

"What a sick lion."

We kissed deep and slow, hard and soft, in a thousand different ways. All of it was so right and felt too damn great. Our kisses then turned different-more intense, wanting and needing, and charged, almost desperate. Victoria then pushed me down on my bed while she got onto of me; the one was now straddling me and feeding me with her sweet kisses that I craved for like it was food or water. My mind was in a blissful daze and everything felt so right. Before I could even think about it, I was already unbuttoning her vest and tossing it carelessly on the ground, and then slowly unbuttoned her first four buttons of her blouse with anticipation. Victoria seemed to be getting into the idea since she already got my shirt off and tossed it on the ground where her vest was. I unbuttoned the last button of her white ruffled top, slowly let it fell off her body, and tossed it with the rest of our clothes. I opened my eyes to take a look at her, and my heart was caught in my throat.

She was only wearing her jeans and a hot pink Victoria Secret strapless lacy bra that I was sure was a size 48 C-cup. She looked speculator and was every definition of both flawless beauty and perfection. There was no way this beautiful, black-haired goddess was meant for plain ole' me.

I played with the clasp of her bra. Our lips were moving in perfect sync until suddenly she pulled back. My heart sunk by the loss, but soon fluttered again when I saw her smiling at me. I smiled back at her, my face happily flushed, and was also breathless from those amazing yet intense kisses.

"I was right," She said. "Your lips are soft like pillows."

"Well your lips, mouth, and tongue are the sweetest things I had ever tasted," I replied, making both our smiles grow more. "So I guess that makes our relationship official."

"Yes," She grinned, running her hand through my messy hair. "So are we still going on our date on Saturday?"

Ordinarily I would have blushed, but instead I smiled so big that my teeth were hurting. "You bet." I then let out a tired yawn.

"Good to know that my kisses bore you to sleep." She said with mock humor.

"They do not, Ms. Rain." I said, stealing a sweet kiss from her lips. "However I would like to have some sleep. Unlike you, I actually need sleep or else I'd look like a zombie."

"Then I guess I should go then." She slowly got off my bed and gathered her clothes, putting them back on and re-buttoning up her blouse.

"Don't go," I said, grabbing her hand. "Please stay for me." I gave her the puppy-eyed begging look, seeing it was working on her.

She hesitated, but then sighed, smiling at me, and slowly got into the bed. I covered both my bed sheet and blanket over our bodies. I knew I should been asleep, but I was too busy talking to her about, well, everything. We just laid together on my bed, side-by-side, holding each other's hands, and talking about practically everything. Sometimes one of us would make a joke to make the other.

Victoria then checked the time, seeing it was one in the morning. "Okay, you seriously have to go to sleep. You're going to be tired. How about I sing you my lullaby to put you to sleep?" She asked me.

I nodded, willing to try it and was eager to hear her sing. Victoria grabbed my hand and slowly stroked it, caressing it tenderly. She then opened her mouth and started to sing. My ears were filled with the sound of the most beautiful singing in the entire world. Her singing sounded just like the one in my dreams, powerful and loud like an opera's singer yet also at the same time soft, gentle, and soothing like a siren.

Hearing her siren lullaby made me realize how tired I was. I slowly closed my eyes and drifted to sleep, nuzzling into her soft dark hair and holding her hand in mine, as her singing rang softly in ear.

It's funny how fate can bring two people who are different together, and how some would say that could lead to only tragedy. I'm fire, she's ice. I'm yin and she's yang. Some would say I'm the pure, light angel while she's the dark devil. Some would say we're opposites attracting. She and I knew both knew the more time we spend together; the more I'm endangering my life. But as I lay in bed, falling fast asleep while holding her hand, I realize more and more that none of that even mattered. As I lay in my bed with our bodies close to each other and our hands clasped together, I felt whole like I was a missing piece until she came along and made me whole, complete. And then I realized that she's my soul-mate. I realized she's the one for me, no matter what she is. I care for her as she cares me, I'm her angel and she's my devil.

I love her no matter what and will love her forever when time ends.


	9. Chapter 9

"Can anyone else in your family read minds like you can? Or have any other abilities?" I asked Victoria.

Since our amazingly indescribable kiss that happened a few days ago, Victoria and I are now closer than before. At school, we still act professorial around each other and aren't affectionate, otherwise we'll just have a huge audience watching us. But whenever no one's in the halls, we make out by one of our lockers. Or sometimes during free period, we'd sneak into an empty classroom or the janitor's closet and start our French-kissing make-out session until it's time for another class.

I honestly was surprise when Victoria told me that before me she's never kiss anyone or felt strongly about anyone like she does with me. I was shocked because she's really one excellent, amazing kisser, whose kisses I crave like it was food that I was deadly starving for, and because she was so beautiful, lovely, and perfect that it was practically stunning to find out that she doesn't already have someone.

I loved the fact we're spending so much together and I was getting to know her a lot better. I especially love it when we kiss. I sometimes (when she lets me) steal kisses from her deliciously sweet lips and sometimes when the heat is really burning strong when we're making out, we do go a bit far. But Victoria is always in control and stops whenever she feels we're going too far.

Often times I always fantasies making love to Victoria, sometimes the thoughts and fantasies would grow so vivid and intense that I physically slap myself hard in the face. Honestly I can't help.

When I took a moment to exam all of her perfect self, starting from her beautiful face to her perfect curves and then down to her toned, amazing legs, my mind becomes a complete blank and soon my mind is filled with images of me hovering over Victoria as she gripped tightly onto my shoulders, both our bodies frees of clothes and covered with sweat.

_The ebony goddess was under me; both our bodies molted together and free of clothes. As sweet moans of desire and pleasure escaped her lips. Her long, raven-colored hair was fanned out around the pillows, damp in wet sweat. Her expression was passionate as she looked into my longing, intense eyes. My eyes were dark shade of blue filled with love, lust and intense. I looked deeply into her eyes, without saying a single word to her, my craving for her was growing more and more powerful. I didn't only love this ravenette goddess, but needed her and wanted her._

"_Zane, I need you." She moaned in my ear, and then let out a loud, meowing moan as we began thrusting roughly and deeply into each other while screaming each other's names, our passion for each other being poured into our physically intimate affection. _

I mentally slapped myself to escape those x-rated thoughts.

It was a lazy Friday afternoon and being with Victoria made everything seem perfect. We were walking in the woods to another place Victoria calls her secret hiding place, a place that's one of her favorites and she wanted me to see. You'd think since it was late April that the weather would be warm and nice, but here in Albuquerque there're only three types of weather you'd see here: rain, cloudy but not rainy days, and more rain. It was cloudy and cold, this Friday afternoon. I shivered as I blew warm air into my hands while rubbing them together and stuffing them inside. I was dressed in a plain black t-shirt, denim jeans, and black sneakers, and was wearing my black hoodie zip-up sweatshirt with the hood covering my head. I glanced at Victoria and eyed what she was wearing. She wore a white tank ruffle mini dress, a light denim jacket that looked more like a shirt unbuttoned, and taupe brown western cowboy boots.

She looked amazing, of course. But I wondered how the hell she can't feel cold in this weather, wearing that. But then I quickly came up with the answer and mentally slapped myself hard. _Duh, genius_, said the voice in my head. _She's a vampire, of course she doesn't get cold since her skin is cold itself. _

Victoria stuffed her hands into the pockets of her denim shirt jacket, looking lost in deep thought with a distant, unreadable look on her face. I walked beside her, eyeing her curiously as she was lost in her thoughts. Finally she looked at me and answered my question, no change in her unreadable expression "Alice can see things. You could say she's a physic, but the things about her visions are they're based on someone's decisions and can be changed by the person's actions. Jasper can control people emotions. If he was locked in a room of angry, screaming people, he could easily calm and settle them down with just one glance on his face. And…"

"And…" I mimicked her, seeing a trace of a smile in her lips. "What else?"

"I have one other ability. Or two, if you count my siren song. The song I call my lullaby. Whenever I sing, my song instantly draws people to me and they're completely under my control. I can will them to do anything."

"But wait!" I said, making us stop in our tracks. "You sang the song to me when you were putting me to sleep. Why wasn't I under your control?"

"There are two different lullabies I sing. One is your lullaby when I only will you to relax or fell asleep. The other I can call my prey to me, without using the need to track them down. When someone hears my lullaby, they're under a trance and follow my music, leading them to me." She answered.

I nodded, listening to every word she was saying with fascination and curiosity. "So you'd used the lullaby to call animals to you."

She nodded and added, with her expression still not revealing an emotion. "I used the lullaby once-on three humans a long time ago. And…let's just say that things didn't end well for them. After that, I strictly stick to just calling animals."

I nodded again and asked her "Okay, what's the other ability?"

She didn't answer at first and then slowly turned to me. Her arms were crossed against her chest, and her expression was still and unreadable. I could see in her dark eyes she was trying to decide whether or not she could tell me. But I saw that trust win that battle. She sighed, and then looked straight into my eyes again "I have the ability to see someone's death day."

That answer caused me to stay still. I was frozen like a marble statue, my eyes wide with stunned shock. "You can see someone's death day?"

Victoria didn't answer me at first, only looking at me and carefully watching my actions and movements. She then suddenly turned around and continued to walk ahead.

"Victoria!" I called out to her. But she acted as if she didn't hear me and continued to walk away. "Victoria!" I called louder, chasing after her and trying to keep up with her.

She sighed deeply again and folded her arms firmly against her chest. She finally stopped and only turned halfway to me.

"You don't like your other ability. Why not?" I asked her. At first I thought being able to see someone's death day was a bit weird and scary at first, but soon I thought it was kind of cool.

"Because I find seeing how someone's life is gonna end _not_ a good thing. Sometimes it's quite disturbing. In a way it makes me a grim reaper. I may not cause people's deaths, but still I know how it will end."

"In a way it's not bad," I said. "Because you can see someone's death day, you could stop it from happening."

She took a quick glance at me and soon was walking again. I quickly caught up with her, and was walking beside her. "Normally I don't stop them. If I stop a person's death date, then I'm changing one's fate, their destiny. And who am I change one fate?" She said with a simple shrug.

That made sense to me. I slowly nodded my head, understanding her. "So do you have visions of a person's death day?"

She shook her head and bit her bottom lip, trying to find some way to explain it to me. "In a way, I see visions. Mostly flashes. Like for example, I see one of a teenage girl coming from a party, driving home even though she's instantly drunk and can barely know what's going on, and I see the car crashing headfirst into a tree and badly damage, then I know she died from drunk-driving. Or I can see an elderly man, placing his hand over his chest and foam is coming from his mouth, I can tell he's dying of a heart attack. Sometimes the visions just flash to my head and sometimes they don't. But seeing a person's death date is easy. Whenever a person passes me, I see their death date written in crimson red and floating above their heads. I can see anyone's death date."

"So...you can see mine?" I asked her.

Victoria stopped for a moment. When I realized she stopped, I stopped, too, and turned back to her. Her expression was unreadable as she took slow steps toward me. When she finally reached me, she slowly used her hand to touch the back of my head and tenderly stroked my hair while looking deeply into my eyes. I covered my hand with her hand, while looking deeply into her eyes which were truly beautiful like her beauty and also gave away no emotion.

"I can." She whispered, only saying that and nothing else, after moments of silence which felt like centuries to me. Finally she pulled her hand away from hair, my heart sinking by the loss of her touch away from me, and started to walk again.

We walked again in totally silence; the only things making noise were the sounds of the tall trees' leaves blowing with the wind, twigs being cracked as we stepped onto them with our shoes, the wind blowing another strong, cool breeze that caused me to shiver. Victoria glanced at me when she saw I was shivering, and I could tell by the look in her eyes that she wished she could warm me up but knew she would only make me colder.

We just continued to walk and walk to the far place that Victoria wanted to show me. Finally she said quietly yet firmly, the first words she said to me since we were talking about her abilities "Zane, you really shouldn't walk around in the woods anymore. At least not without me. Because I'm not the only dangerous thing out there."

"Why, you don't think I can take care of myself?" I said with a shrug, using a little teasing in an attempt to make her smile or laugh.

I saw a small smile slowly creeping upon her lips, lighting up her serious and expressionless face. "I know you can't." She answered with both firm seriousness and mock humor.

I nodded and said to her. "Remember when I almost got hit by Ellie's van or when that thug nearly shot me, but you, as the great super girl, saved me?"

She nodded.

"Well maybe my number was up then. Maybe you just interfered with fate." I said, wondering about it myself.

She slowly shook her head, her smile slowly becoming bigger bit by bit. "Zane, your number was up the minute I met you."

But as she took another step, her boot got caught in a fallen tree branch. She grabbed me to try to steady her balance, but only brought me down with her as she fall to the ground. My back made contact to the ground as we landed and she was onto of me.

Victoria's expression was shocked until she finally giggled and brushed her raven black-colored curls away from her eyes. I was silent for a moment, seeing how her smile melted my heart and hearing her giggles which are music to my ears. Seeing how her beauty was too inhumanly beautiful for mere words, I wondered again how a girl of such beauty and perfection could possibly be mine. I gently ran my hand through her soft and silk midnight black hair, caressing each curl with care.

I looked up at her, seeing she was looking back at me. "Do you really want a taste?"

She knew what I was talking about and looked hesitated as she trying to think of a response to my question. Finally she sighed again quietly and slowly nodded her head. I slowly caressed her right cheek which was ice-cold yet somehow soft. I then offered her my thumb, which had a bleeding cut from my sudden fall. I could see in her eyes she wanted to lick it, she wanted to taste it.

Hesitantly, she slowly grabbed my hand and looked at my bloody wound, watching the blood that was dripping from my thumb. She licked her lips hungrily, and slowly opened her mouth. I was able to see her fangs which were just like how I dreamt: sharp as knives and glistening pearly-white. She placed my thumb inside her mouth, and I flinched as I felt her teeth biting down on my thumb, feeling my blood being licked clean by her tongue and her teeth digging more into my skin, drawing out more.

Her bite brought both extreme pleasure and pain to me; I couldn't tell which one was the right term to describe the feeling her bite. When I looked at Victoria, she was sucking my thumb and trying to place my entire hand into her mouth. I flinched again when I felt her bite-this time it was stronger, more firm. When I looked at her again, I saw her eyes were closed and she looked as if she was blissful heaven. Sensing that I was looking at her, Victoria slowly opened her eyes and soon my eyes widen in surprise and shocked when I noticed a change in her eyes.

Her eyes that were once before dark gold were now bright yet dark crimson red that matched the shade of blood. In her eyes, I saw her demon, the beast that lives inside her, that thirst of my blood. Her blood red eyes had only one emotion in them: bloodlust.

I flinched and whined loud in pain as I felt an even stronger bite than before, this time biting my entire hand. In a way, it reminded me of the nightmare I had when I first found out about Victoria's secret. I wasn't scared of her; I know she wouldn't let her beast-side take full-control of her and win.

Victoria seemed to be getting control of herself, because very slowly she drew out my hand from her mouth, stroked it only once, and rested it on my chest. She glared at me as I glared back at her, her blood-red eyes glowing both bright yet dark. She then opened her mouth, and bared her fangs at me. I could see some of my blood staining her sharp teeth. I could tell she was testing me, waiting to see if I was going to be afraid and run for my life.

"Are you sure you're not afraid?" She asked me, all emotions gone from her face.

I only stared at her for a few moments, taking in this image of with her eyes the color of blood and fanged-sharpen teeth, waiting for fear to come in.

I waited to feel it, but fear never came. I wasn't afraid of her, only more fascinated and curious than before. I looked up at Victoria, seeing she was watching me. I shook my head at her and said the same thing I said when she asked me if I was afraid of her: "No."

I saw her teeth slowly going back to normal and a hint of gold started showing in her eyes, growing bigger and overshadowing the crimson red until her eyes finally were its normal dark golden color once more.

She slowly got off of me and held me up. We then continued walking, but this time walking hand-in-hand. We walked for what seemed like hours until we finally reached a clear path. We followed that path and led us to a meadow. I looked around this meadow; it was the same one I've seen in both of dreams that featured Victoria. The meadow was surrounded by tall trees that provided shade and beautiful flowers of all kinds and covered by soft green grass. I could hear a pond in near distance, listening carefully to its sound as I heard the water slowly drifting.

When I turned back to Victoria, she was gone. I spun around, scanning the place until I saw her sitting, cross-legged on the grass. She looked up at me, with a smile lighting up her face, her dark golden eyes also smiling at me and beckoning me to come to her. I happily obeyed, walking over to her, and sitting beside her on the nice grass.

"So this is your favorite place?" I asked her.

She nodded. "It's my favorite place here in Albuquerque. I love coming here because it's so quiet and peaceful and helps me think of things. No one in my family knows about this place, not even Alice whom I'm extremely close to. This meadow is my secret hiding place."

"So why are you showing it to me then?" I asked her, curious to know.

She was too busy tracing my hand, her cool fingers gliding every line, giving me another case of chills again. She nuzzled her head into my shoulder, closing her eyes and thinking about it for a moment. "Because I trust you, silly."

I wrapped one arm around her and stroked her hair, mentally sketching another beautiful portrait of her that I planned to sketch later in my book when I get home. We just sat like in this position for a long time, neither of us saying a word. I, of course, felt the electrically current running between us and felt those shy yet powerful butterflies trying to burst from my stomach. I then just opened my mouth and said the most random thing on the back of my mind.

_Raven... haired beauty  
That has entered into my life  
Ebony goddess of intelligence  
A wave of pure ecstasy, and happiness  
That special woman  
That has come to touch my soul  
Has alleviate all my pain  
I am anew  
And ready to do  
Everything to show my love for her  
The mere sound of her angelic voice  
Rapes me of any sorrow  
The sweet melodic twinkling of her laughter  
Causes my heart to ripple, my soul to shiver  
I am one again in joyous bliss  
Content in the soft halo of her words  
A poet in mind, and soul  
A kindred spirit  
That is now mine  
A crucial part of my existence  
The missing piece of my soul  
My other half  
And the bringer of love  
Back into my life_

Raven... haired angel  
Fallen from heaven to affect my life  
To make me feel loved  
And take away all the hurt  
And care for me, because of who I am  
I am the loving Latino heat  
Of the passionate soul within  
She is the fire  
That's burns my desire  
And makes me love again  
I have never found  
A soul as lovely as hers  
She is my queen  
And I will sacrifice everything  
To keep that lovely  
Raven  
By my side  
For all eternity

Victoria pulled back from my shoulder, and looked at me silently. A hint of a smile showed on her face. "That was beautiful. You actually made it up?"

"Yeah," I said with a shrug, though I was quite surprise with myself. I mostly drew sketched and or made paintings or sculptors. I'm not really a poetry guy, so how I made it up was beyond me. I did however know who inspired that poem and turned to the raven-haired beauty. "It was about you, and how happy I am that you, raven-haired beauty, are all mine."

She didn't say a word to me, and only placed her finger under my chin and brought me closer to her. She kissed me long and sweet and a bit hungrily, causing the inside of my body to catch on fire. I wrapped my arms around her waist and laid her flat on the ground as I got on top of her, kissing her back sweetly and deeply yet passionately and hungrily, very, very hungrily.

We kept kissing and kissing until Victoria pulled back when the make out session was starting to get too hot. But I pulled her lips back to mine, not wanting the kissing to stop, and wrapped my arms around her securely. Victoria pounced on me, turning us over so now she was on top of me, straddling me.

I pulled back for a moment, so I could take look at her. We had many cuddles and make-out sessions, but out of all the position we were in during those activities, this was definitely new and my absolute favorite. The way Victoria was sat on top of me, glaring down at me with domineering lust in her eyes, I suddenly felt very turned on.

And when Victoria lowered her mouth to mine, I responded with a passion, enormous hunger and fury passion; my hands coming up and cupping her jaw line, my fingertips slowly grazing over her skin causing her to moan into my mouth. Our tongues danced a tango battle of domination, both determined to fight until one of them won; her cold, petite fingers sliding along my cheek and through my hair as the kiss became more heated and our passions mounted. I began to run my hands slowly up her leg, making the skirt of her dress go higher and higher, feeling her shiver with pleasure as my hand reached her upper thigh and caressed her there. While Victoria trailed down to my neck and sucked on my sensitive spot, I used my left hand to pull down her denim jacket until it was completely off and then pulled down the straps of her dress, getting a preview of her cotton white strapless bra.

Victoria let out a moan as she felt my hand groping her ass, pulling her closer to me. We continued with our French open-mouth kisses, feeling those wonderful and incredible feelings we feel every time we kiss, as we clung to each other desperately, never wanting to break the contact.

I let out a loud moan feeling her hands wander under my shirt and massaging my toned chest. I helped her strip off my hoodie sweatshirt.

When Victoria suddenly pulled back, my heart clenched. I was still under her and she was still straddling me. She then gently stroked at my neck, eyeing the mark she placed on me, officially making me hers.

We stayed in our position in silence, me taking a few moments to catch my breath after the intense, hot kisses with my flushed face in a happy daze while she looked down at me. I looked at her and she looked down at me. Slowly and with caution, she placed her hand on my chest, my fast heartbeat making her hand practically vibrating. Slowly I placed one hand over her small hand that was resting on my chest, while placing the other hand in the back of her head, slowly stroking her dark silkily hair.

"I love you, Victoria Rain." My words were meant to be quiet, but somehow were loud and echoed in the meadow.

She looked into my eyes and didn't say a single word. Then she covered her lips with mine, giving me a kiss of pure affection, passion, and love. I wrapped my arms around her once more, and had to concentrate on how to breathe while I kissed this beautiful goddess. After long moments of our lips and tongues moving in perfect sync, she slowly pulled back and stroked her hair back. She traced my lips, which were chapped and nearly red from all that kissing, with her finger and murmured "I love you, too, Zane LaForne. You're my life now."

She slowly got off of me and lay by my right side. I reached out for her hand and held it tightly in mine. I was starting to get use to her coldness, though that didn't stop my hand from feeling numb. We just looked up at the cloudy gray sky, tightly clasping our hands.

"Victoria, how do you turn someone into a vampire?" I asked her.

She turned to me, a bit puzzled by my question but still answered. "You have to simply bite. But you can't suck too much or else the person would die, and you have got your venom into that person. It takes a while for the venom to sink in." She raised her eyebrow curiously at me. "Why do you ask?"

I took a deep breath, bracing myself. I knew as soon as I asked her this, she's either going to: A). Get instantly mad and pissed-off or B). She'll be pissed-off and furious. Either way it wasn't going to be pretty. Finally I let out my breath and didn't say anything at first as I caressed her left cheek and looked into her beautiful eyes that were gazing back at me. I suddenly realized some many things, things that can happen and the possibly of me being with her forever.

"Please make me a vampire, too." I muttered to her.

My words that were as quiet as mice somehow were loud enough to echo all through the meadow, repeating over a dozen times before it finally faded. Victoria didn't say a single word. I looked into her eyes to try to see what she was thinking and feeling, but, just like the expression of her face, her eyes gave away no emotion and was completely unreadable. She was still as a statue and I couldn't help, but wonder if she was considering it, too.

But soon that possibly faded, as anger flashed in her eyes and made them a thousand times colder. Her hand was suddenly pulled away from mine and her cheek was out of my grasp. She turned her back to me, lifting her knees up and wrapping her arms tightly around them.

"Victoria…"I reached out and tried to touch her shoulder, but she jerked my hand away. I could tell she didn't want to talk right now.

The tension between us was suddenly chilled and frozen to ice-cold. I could hear her taking a very big, deep breath to calm herself down, though I knew she was fusing on the inside. She took one quick glance at me, and her expression gave away no emotion.

"No! Absolutely, positively not!" She exclaimed, turning more and more to me while saying each word louder than the last.

"But Victoria," I said gently, not wanting to upset her and cause her to fuse again. I slowly put my hand on her shoulder, and this time she didn't object. I took a deep breath to think about where I was going to start, and then looked into her eyes. The anger she felt moments ago caused her eyes to darken to a dark color that was no longer gold, and was in a nearly black color. "I love you, Victoria," I murmured to her. "I've never felt and cared anyone this deeply or affection toward for anyone else before in my life. And now when I think about it, I realized something: you're an immortal vampire and I'm just a human. I'm getting older everyday while you're not. And I also had a chat with your sister…Rosalina."

Victoria narrowed her eyes. "What did Rosalina say?"

As I started to tell her, the flashback played in my head.

_Wednesday afternoon school, I walked out of French class, my brain hurting from learning and not understanding too many French words and expressions. I went to my locker to put away my books and packed my homework into my backpack. As I packed my heavy Algebra text book, a pair of hard yet soft, smooth hands covered my eyes. _

"_Guess who?"A voice whispered in my ear._

"_Um…."I pretended to think, though I knew very well who it was. "Victoria Rain."_

"_Correct." She said, pulling her hands away from my eyes and pecked me on the cheek. Since everyone was already long gone to home or at school clubs and we were all alone, I kissed her softly on the lips. She giggled as she pulled back, and I wrapped my arm around her shoulder as we walked to our cars."So how was French class?"_

"_Terrible." I said, with a phony French accent._

"_And why so terrible?" She asked._

"_Because I absolutely suck at it. At my old school, we took Spanish and I was practically a master at it. French is a complete different story."_

"_Well I'm in AP French and, if I quite say so myself, I'm very familiar with the language and master it."_

"_That's because Ms. smugly, you've lived for over decades and actually lived in Paris for a few years and traveled all around Europe where you learned it perfectly. I wouldn't be surprise if you speak flawless French with a perfect accent."_

"_Well if I do say so myself, I speak it very well." She smiled smugly, as I pulled her into the trunk of my old truck and she sat besides me._

"_So will you tutor me?" I asked her._

_She thought about it for a moment, considering spending her valuable time tutoring a French-learning-and nearly-failing-it retard like myself. She then turned to me and slowly smiled. "Of course, it will be my pleasure."_

_I smiled back at her and then she slowly covered her lips with mine. She was almost pulling back moments later, but I crushed my lips more into hers and she quickly responded back. She then laid me down on the trunk while she hovered over me, feeding me her sweet kisses. I snaked one arm around her waist, pulling her closer to me, while my other hand crawled into her white tank top, feeling her smooth back by slowly caressing every inch of it. _

_Victoria moaned into my mouth as the kiss deepened and became more intensely passionate. She then suddenly pulled back and sat up straight. I was puzzled by her actions and turned to see what she was looking at. I was startled and nearly had a heart attack when I saw who was standing near my truck._

_It wasn't my friends, it was Alice and Rosalina Rain, Victoria's older adopted sisters who are beautifully stunning but aren't as beautiful as Victoria. Alice greeted us with a huge smile that was warm and friendly but also mischievous since she and Rosalina just watched us making out in the trunk of my truck. Rosalina, however, didn't look pleased, not at all. She gave Victoria a stern glare while she turned to me and her nearly black eyes became a million times colder, colder than even ice, nearly chilling my bones._

"_We were wondering why you were," She said, slowly turning her ice cold and raging eyes away from me, breaking the very insane and intense trance that I couldn't escape from, and turned to Victoria. "We were waiting for you at the car." She nodded her head toward Victoria's SUV that was parked in front of the school while my truck was all the way down to the near end. _

"_I was busy with some stuff." Victoria answered, though her tone was just as cold as her sister's. _

_Rosalina smiled a dry smile and let out a faint dark chuckle. "We can obviously see that." She said, taking in my flushed face and chapped, red-swollen lips and Victoria's nearly ridden up top and slightly messy hair. _

_Alice, who thankfully saved us from Rosalina's wretch, elbowed her sister's shoulder, which looked quite hard and said "Lay off, Rosy. And correct me if I'm wrong, but don't you and Elliot practically suck each other's faces off every ten seconds of the day, especially at home in your honeymoon bedroom doing God knows only what."_

_Rosalina glared murderously at her sister and then at me for quietly laughing. Victoria cleared her throat to break the tension before straightening herself up, grabbing her stuff, and getting out of my truck's trunk. "I'll see you later okay." She said to me._

_I nodded and smiled as I kissed her sweet lips once more, but kissed her shorter than I liked to since her sisters were right there, watching us. She then ran her hand through my hair once more and smiled at me before Alice whisked away with her from me, firing at her over a hundred excited questions. I was now nervous because I was now stuck with Rosalina, who was watching me with her ice-cold bitter eyes._

_I cleared my throat and grabbed my backpack before climbing out of the trunk and walking into the front driver seat's car door. I opened the door and tossed my bag carelessly into the passenger's seat, but then Rosalina, quickly with impossible, speed blocked my way, standing in front of me with her arms crossed tightly against her chest and her eye as cold as ever with bitter anger. _

"_Let's get one thing straight, bastard. I don't like you." She said, scowling at me._

_I scowled back at her and answered "Well that's a huge relief since I'm not a huge fan of you either."_

"_What do you know; the meat sack actually has some joke. How cute." Her tone sarcastically bitter and her small smile darkly dry and free of humor. "Now listen, I don't like the fact that you and my sister are spending a lot of time together, but unfortunately I'm going to have to deal-for now anyway."_

"_What the hell are you talking about?" I asked, not in the mood for her shit talk._

_Her eyes became darker and so did her smile. "My dear boy, didn't Victoria tell you about the Volturi?"_

"_She did," I nodded, figuring out what Rosalina was up to. "I already know all about them. And now you listen. You may not like me, but I would never do anything to put Victoria and your family at risk for danger."_

_She giggled a fake laugh once. "Of course you won't," She said. "You should also know that the Volturi are the closet thing our kind has to royalty. They enforce the law, and you try to deny them, then you're history. They'll found out about you, no doubt like they did with the other humans who were knowledge of our existence. And the very first person they'll go after before you is Victoria. And no doubt, they'll make you watch."_

_I tried to maintain calm, but I couldn't. Her words were powerful and caused my mind to create a new image, a new dark twisted image. The image was of me forcefully and helplessly watching my Victoria at the Voltuir's heartless mercy as they slowly torment her for what she did and were about to end her life. I was begging them, screaming very loudly at very top of my lungs, to stop and to just kill me and to please spare her, but they only smiled at me evilly and killed her right in front of my eyes. My beloved Victoria was now gone._

_I snapped myself out of it, and looked at Rosalina who looked both angry and darkly pleased, pleased that she gotten to me and was able to scare me off. The dark pleasant was gone from her eyes as she thought about something, thinking about it for a very long time. Then she turned back to me and said "There is…a way you can be with my sister forever."_

_I couldn't tell if she was being honest and sincere or trying to trick me again. I slowly raised my eyebrows at her, saying "What?"_

"_Do you love sister?" She asked me instead, her tone telling her she was through playing dark games with me and was getting down to business. _

"_More than anything else in the world." I answered, meaning every word with my heart. _

"_And would you do anything for her? Absolutely anything?" Rosalina asked me, eyeing me with dark coldness and curiosity. _

"_Anything." I said._

"_There was a third human who learned of our existence over a century ago, but, unlike the others, she was allowed to live. And do you want to know why?"_

_I hesitated, before slowly nodding my head. Rosalina continued, "Her immortal lover made her one of us, he bite her and turned her into a vampire. The Volturi only makes an exception to humans knowing about us if they're bitten and given immortality. If my little sister bites you, then you'll become one of us and you can be with her forever."_

I finished telling my tale, and the look on Victoria's face still didn't change. Her eyes darkened and darkened more and more until the golden was faded away and consumed by nearly black darkness and had ice-cold anger raging in them; her face was still expressionless. She turned away from me and looked straight away, lifting her knees up once more and wrapping her arms around them, resting her chin on her knees.

"Are you mad at me?" I asked her quietly, trying to calm her down. She looked like she was close to exploding.

"Please just me a moment." She ordered quietly yet harshly. She closed her eyes slowly and shut them tight. Everything was quiet around us, the wind suddenly silent and blow quiet, soft breezes, the trees' breaches playing with wind, but made no sound. Victoria stayed like this for what felt like centuries. I only sat besides her, watching her as I lifted my knees up and lay down on my back.

The gray sky suddenly darkened and time went by, but Victoria was still like statue, lost in her thoughts behind her closed eyes.

She sighed, finally after an hour of silence. She opened her eyes and turned to me. I finally took my eyes away from the sky and looked at her. "Hi." She murmured so quietly it was barely audible.

"Hi," I quietly said to her. "Are you angry?"

She shook her head, but her eyes still had traces of coldness and anger. "Not at you, I'm furious at myself, at Rosalina for even suggesting something so drastic. She doesn't understand."

"She was only trying to help," Victoria shot me the darkest and coldest look I ever seen in her eyes, and I held up my hands, trying to calm her down. "She doesn't want anything to happen to you and your family. And neither do I. I would die if something ever happened to you, especially if you got hurt because of me. If….I become a vampire, Victoria, I won't have to worry about tomorrow or about dying. And let's face it; you're going to be young, seventeen, and beautiful forever while each second of the day I'm getting older and older. If you change me, I can be with you forever."

She looked at me for moment, listening to my reasons and I thought she was actually considering it. But she shook her head, and looked down at me again. "I'm not worth it."

"Yes, you are. I'm willingly to do anything for you, even if that requires biting me into everlasting eternity." I said, taking her hand and kissing it, and slowly sucking each of her fingers.

I saw a hint trace of a smile on her lips. She then sigh again and said "Zane…it's not that easy just biting you. There are risks. Some are bitten are alright and nothing happens to them, others will slowly over the years grew insane until they're positively, completely crazy and need to put out of their misery, while a very few will just die."

I placed my hand under her chin and lifted her head, so she was now looking into my honest blue eyes. I kissed her slowly and deeply, our tongues meeting and tasting the sweetness of each other's mouths. I then slowly pulled back, and caressed her cheek. She closed her eyes as she held her hand over mine and leaned more into my palm, the warmness of my hand colliding with her cold cheek.

"I'm willingly to risk anything, even my own life, to keep you by my side." I murmured, kissing her on the lips once more.

She looked placed both her hands on my cheeks, holding my face in her hands. She looked me deep in the eyes, looking deeply for something, looking it long, hard, and deep. I wondered again if she would change me. "Zane…if I do change you, you would have to give up everything. Your humanity, all commutation with your family and friends or else they'll be in great danger, and have to move far away to start all over. Vampires who are recently changed are newborns, and newborns are the most dangerous of our kind. They're bloodthirsty, cold, and heartless and will kill the first human in sight without a second thought. They become heartless beasts, giving into the bloodlust. No matter how good they once were when they were humans, they give themselves into bloodthirst, wanting nothing more than blood, blood, and more blood. And I can't bear seeing you go through that."

I shook my head and kissed her again. "I'll go through it all, the pain, the bloodlust, everything. I know you'll be by my side and help me with it."

She deeply into my eyes and cupped my face in her hands. She looked at me for the longest time before slowly releasing me, but still stroked my left cheek. "Let's not think about that right now, okay? Let's just stick to the present and think about today."

"Okay," I agreed, but quickly added to make sure she doesn't think I'm going to forget about this. "But we'll talk about this soon."

Victoria stared at me, her beautiful face unreadable, reading my eyes and saw I was serious. "Okay." She whispered.

"Okay." I smiled and she slowly smiled back. She then grabbed my hand and we both lay on our backs on the soft grass, looking up at the sky and then looked at each other. The silence wasn't awkward, it was good, and actually great would be a better term for it. We slowly smiled at each other as we clasped our hands tightly.

We stayed at our meadow for hours and hours, though time meant little to us, just talking while mostly smiling at each other and holding hands and making out a lot, too. By the time we finally left, nightfall darkened to nighttime and it was already after ten. Victoria drove me home and we were talking about our plans for tomorrow. They're having a huge carnival tomorrow that's near Port Angels, and we decided that we would go there. The weather tomorrow was going to still be cloudy, but in the warm low 70s'.

"What time are you going to be up?" Victoria asked me.

"About 9:30 and I should be ready by 10. So come around by 10:30 or so," I said. "Or do you just want me to pick you up?"

She shook her head, but did it with a smile. "I'll just walk here. See you tomorrow?"

"You know it." I grinned at her and then pressed my lips against hers. I meant for the kiss to be soft and light, but Victoria grabbed my shoulders and pulled me closer to her, kissing me deeply and slowly, her tongue wrestling with mine. I was powerless to stop her; too weak to even resist her. The taste of her delicious mouth, the sweetness of her tongue, she was addictive like a powerful drug, more powerful than cocaine or heroin. She was my drug, a powerful drug I was addicted to that I'll never stop taking.

I moaned, wrapping my arms around her waist as she deepened the kiss. Our kisses were deep, hungrily, and passionately intense; our tongues battled with each other for power as they danced a hot and sexy tango; and our bodies molted together with both of curves fitting like one. I wanted to be like this forever, I wanted to kiss her forever and forever. I never wanted this to end.

But unfortunately for me, it did. Victoria slowly pulled back from me and held my face in her hands, memorizing every detail and inch while tenderly stroking my cheeks and lightly tracing my lips with her fingers. "You're beautiful, you know that." She murmured, smiling.

I shook my head, smiling back at her and then kissed her softly. When I slowly pulled my lips away from hers, I pressed my forehead against hers and inhaled her sweet cool minty breath. I grinned as I said "If anyone is beautiful, then it's you. You're the most beautiful girl I've ever seen in my entire life."

Her smiled grew into a grin, and then she suddenly sighed as she let go of my face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

I nodded, still smiling, and kissed those sweet, addicting lips of hers. I then opened the car door and got out. She waved goodbye at me with her dazzling smile still shining on her face, then drove away.

I was still all smiles as I walked into my house. I think my smiles were a bit too big and creepy because my mom gave me the parental concerned and strange look and asked if I was alright. I nodded to that question, the smile still wiped off my face.

After dinner, I went to my room, logged onto my Dell computer, and went to to check my Gmail. I was shocked to see my inbox was already filled with emails.

The first one was from Mike that was emailed yesterday:

**Hey Sport,**

**How's it going in Albuquerque? Is your mom driving you crazy? If she is, then I completely understand. Trust me, I know.**

I rolled my eyes. Of course Mike would say that. That's one of the many reasons why he and Eliza constantly would fight.

**Anyway, what have you been up to? I talked to your mom-and yes, we acted civil toward each other and had a nice conversation. She told me what you've been up to, telling me how you've been spending lot of time with the famous Victoria Rain. Come on, Sport, tell me what the girl is like? As long as it isn't one of those snobby, stuck-up girls, then you have my Okay. Maybe you can bring your girlfriend with you when you come visit your old man in LA. Lots of people miss you, including your old friends and Libby of course. And speaking of Libby, I have fantastic news. Guess what? Libby's pregnant! Soon you're going to be a big brother with a little sibling to play with. Isn't that amazing? Email me back because Libby can't wait for your response.**

I readied the last paragraph twice, unable to thinkas blankness crossed my mind. I was still like a statue but could feel my left eye twitching. I couldn't believe it, I cannot fucking believe it! Libby's actually pregnant with my future sibling growing inside her stomach. I knew most people would be excited about this, but I was just too damn shocked.

I flinched and snapped myself back into reality after I mentally slapped myself so hard that it felt so weird. I then just replied back to the email. I typed in:

**Hey Dad,**

**It's cold, cloudy, and wet but everything is good and okay here. And no, Eliza isn't driving me crazy. She's okay, but is mostly not always home since she works long shifts at the hospital, so it's like living on my own. And about Libby's pregnancy….**

I wrote with sarcasm and fake enthusiasm as I typed in:

**That's awesome!!!!!!! Fantastic. It's like a big dream come true since I've always wanted a little brother or sister********. Maybe I'll take up your offer and visit you in LA. But I'll probably go on summer vacation since spring break is long over. Anyway, since you're driving me with the questions and really want to know so much about Victoria, I'll tell you. She loves to read and loves all kinds of music, especially the classical; she has an amazing voice and is also and amazing dancer with awesome moves; she's mysterious and quiet and is also very mature, like me which you please you. I gotta go, but I'll talk to you later.**

**Love Zane,**

**P.S. Since you're so curious about her looks and want to know so badly what she looks like, here's a picture of her. **

I went to My Pictures file and searched around over a hundred pictures in that folder until I finally found the perfect picture of Victoria. It was a snapshoot I taken yesterday of her looking fantastic a always dressed in a casual jeans and a white tank top, leaning against the big oak tree at the school field, her golden eyes warm and laughing and she was smiling her slow sexy smile. I smiled looking at the picture, and also blushed as I thought about her. I attached the photo to the email and hit Send.

After that, I decided to be prepared for my day (or date if you call it that) with Victoria tomorrow morning and laid out some clothes: my favorite black Ed Hardy tiger black t-shirt, dark denim relax jeans I got from Old Nay, and the new black VANS sneakers. When I got ready for bed, I lay down on my bed but didn't feel tired. I was too busy thinking about my afternoon with Victoria at the meadow, remembering the question I asked her that caused her eyes to widen with shock and then snap with anger.

I asked her to turn me into a vampire.

You probably think I'm crazy for actually considering becoming a monster, a creature of the night that feeds on blood. But I'm not! Let's face it, I'm getting older and older every second of the day while time is frozen for Victoria, making her seventeen forever. What will happen in ten or twenty years from now when people start to think that I'm her dad or her _grandfather_**? **And to top if all off, eventually I'm going to die sooner or later and then leave Victoria all alone and sad. I couldn't bear doing that to her, it will practically kill I couldn't help thinking about what Rosalina told me more about Volturi, how they'll kill Victoria for telling me about their secret and making me watch as they kill her right in front of my eyes. That would stab me right in the heart, killing me in every way possible. I couldn't bare the fact that Victoria would get hurt for me.

Victoria told me as we left the meadow that she'll have me for as long as I want her, not mentioning about the possibly of changing me. I almost thought that was silly, since I'm always going to want her. Always, forever. The ironic thing about time is that it goes too quick, faster when you lease expect it. If I become a vampire, then I could live forever and always be with Victoria forever.

I closed my eyes and tried to picture myself as a vampire. I knew my skin would be a lot paler as pale as snow white; my body would be more toned and fit, packed with unbelievable strength, and hard and ice-cold; my eyes would be blood red; I'll be able to hear and sense everything going on around me; and the best part, I'll be able to be with Victoria forever.

I began to slip away as my dreams began in my mind.

**Victoria POV**

It was midnight and the dark sky was now cloudless and in a dark midnight color, the same color of my hair. When I couldn't stay at my house any longer, I came here and climbed on the big oak tree that's next to his room. I come here practically every night to watch him sleep.

Now I know what you're thinking: Isn't that stalkerish and creepy? Well it isn't. First off, I'm not a stalker. And second, it just fascinates me. Watching his chest raising as he took slow, deep breathes in his sleep, watching him toss and turn in his bed, and seeing how beautiful and peaceful he looked in his slumber.

I decided to take a closer look, and silently thanked my lucky stars that he left his bedroom window open wide, like he knew I was coming. I slowly stood up on the thick branch and looked at his window for a moment while taking a deep breath. Then, without delaying, simply leaped across into his room, landing perfectly on my feet without making a single sound.

_Like a kitty cat_, I thought with a simple flip of my raven-black hair. I then took a look around his room, seeing how it was a typical boy room with the sport posters hanging on the wall, clothes tossed carelessly on the floor with some peeking out from the dresser's draws, and the laundry hamper overflowing with clothes.

"Victoria."

I turned to him, expecting to see him awake but he was merely stirring while talking in his sleep. I shook my head for jumping into conclusions. He's a deep sleeper and always talks in sleep, often saying my name.

"Please, I want this more than else in the world." He continued exclaiming words in his sleep, and I stood in the center of his room, listening to his words in fasciation and trying to figure out what he was dreaming about.

He suddenly gripped tightly onto the bed sheets and loudly moaned and grunted, as if he was in pleasure or pain. I just stood there, slightly startled and wondered what he could possibly be dreaming. "Faster, oh god faster beautiful. Victoria, faster!"

My eyes widen as I listened to those words, appalled. Was he having a sex dream about me?! If I was able to blush, my entire face would be bright red in embarrassment. I didn't know whether I should be embarrassed or revolted, I was stuck in between.

"I can feel them," More words poured from his mouth. "I can feel my fangs growing in my mouth."

So that's what he was dreaming about, he was dreaming that I turned him into a vampire. I scowled at him, rather he'd be dreaming about sex! Why does he want such a thing anyway? To become a demon, a monster that feeds on blood.

_Because he just wants to be with you_ said a voice in my head.

Listening to that voice, my expression softened as I glared at a peaceful, sleeping Zane. He just wants to be with me, he wants to spend eternity with me. I almost smiled, feeling my heart nearly coming alive again. But then I recalled why I protested: I couldn't let him go through what I want through when I was changed. I couldn't let him go through the pain, couldn't let his soul go to the devil, and most of all couldn't make him into a monster. Newborns are dangerous, and there's a very big possibly that he could become like that: bloodthirsty, wanting nothing more than blood, blood, and more blood and getting it anyway possible.

I slowly reached for his hand and held it in my mine, nuzzling my cheek into it as I felt the warm softness of his skin. "I love you with all my heart," I murmured. "And although I'd never admit this to you out loud, I sometimes do consider turning you into a vampire. But I can't. You have your whole life ahead of you, while it's too late for me. Even though we can't be together forever, I'll be with you for as long as you want me."

"I love you." He murmured, making me smile.

"I love you, too." I kissed the corners of his lips, his nose, and lastly his forehead. I stayed there with him, holding his hand as I watched him slumber. When sunrise finally came, I kissed him on the forehead once more and vanished.


	10. Chapter 10

"Come on, V; tell me what you and Zane did? Was it fun? Did he buy you a present?" Alice fired away with questions as we put away our World History textbooks in our lockers, which were right next to each other. Ironic, huh? Other students laughed with their friends and screamed to each other as they got ready for free period.

I only smirked at her as I shut my locker and leaned against it, examining my satin black-colored manicure. Today was another Monday morning at East High, which normally would have bored me but instead didn't. Nothing could wipe the smile from my face as I thought about my weekend with Zane. Saturday we went to the carnival and had so much fun and also got hot and heavy making out in his truck before I stopped us from getting too intense and hot. Then on Sunday, I went over his house where we watched some movies while making out a lot.

My wonderful weekend with him however didn't help me forget about what Rosalina told him. I honestly couldn't believe she would actually plant such an absurd idea into his head. When I went to talk to her about it, she tried to act innocent, saying she was merely _suggesting_.

Alice finally stop with the questions and turned to me, seeing the frown on my face. Since she knows me too well, she knows I'm thinking about what Rosalina said. "She was only trying to help, V. And unfortunately, she's right." She said, trying to defend Rosalina's case.

I sighed, softly banging my head against my locker. "I know," I groaned, knowing Rosalina was right, too-even though it's too crazy. I looked up at my sister, who was playing with my long black hair. "But she can't actually think I'll just bite him just like that. He has his own life, his own future ahead of him." I then groaned again, shaking my head. I didn't know whether I should mad at Rosalina or at Zane for quickly considering it so quickly without thinking about it so much. And the worst part was, though I couldn't read his mind, I knew he was thinking about it and was never going to let it go until I finally give in-which was _**never**_ going to happen.

Alice wrapped her arm around my shoulder, letting me lay my head on her shoulder as we walked together in the halls. "He loves you, V." She said simply with a smile and shrug.

"I know." I sighed.

"And you love him, too."

I nodded my head, and then suddenly a smile of mischievous, which was a typically Alice's smile, lit up her face. She looked down at me with her smugly smile as the most absurd, repulsing thought came to her head. _I'm curious about something, did you two…you know…do it yet?_ She thought, causing me to stop in my tracks and turn to her, appalled.

"Excuse me?!!!" I exclaimed.

"You know," She whispered, as she came closer to me. "Did you two…have sex?"

I stared at her with my mouth dropped wide, my eyes practically popping out from their sockets. I shook my head as I walked away from her, too shocked by her words to even think straight right now.

"Tu es fou, tu le sais." I told her, telling her she was crazy in French.

_You still love me anyway, V!_ She thought, and then went off to go find Jasper. I was walking more and more away from her, feeling fumed and was extremely shocked by her questioning thought. She may be my best friend, but that's none of her business whether Zane and I made love-which we _haven't_.

I ran my hand through my silkily hair, cussing Alice because now I couldn't stop thinking about it. Zane and I love each other….but we haven't gone _that far_. And no, it's not because we have some crazy vampire rules about vampires having sex with humans. We can, but the problem was humans are just too breakable, way too easy to break without even trying. And most vampires-the ones drink human blood-only seduce humans to get their blood. And…I'm just both nervous and worried about what could happen if we go _all the way_.

Lately my thoughts seemed to distress me more than usual, both my tense thoughts caused by my sisters. My mind kept thinking about Rosalina's suggestion to turn him into one of us. When I confront my family about it, they all, including Elliot who usually has a smart mouth, just said to follow my instincts and heart and do whatever decision makes me happy. I scowled while remembering the smirk of victory on Rosalina's face when she won that debate.

I let out another sigh, tucking my loose waves of black curls behind my left ear and ignoring the stares of the jocks-who were one of the many boys that also have a huge crush on me-as I passed them, wrapping my arms around myself as I continued to think.

_If-_and I'm not saying I will-I do turn Zane into a vampire, he'd have to give up everything, everything including all he knows, loves and cares about just to be with me. He'd have to give up communication with his friends and family or else they would be in danger, we'd have to move far away from this place so no one would ever find him and will have to start all over, and he'd have to give up his humanity, practically handing over his soul to the devil for eternal youth and beauty. I'm more than flattered and was also touched by the fact that he would actually do that just for me, but still….I can't risk that.

My mind then created an image of Zane as a vampire, with paler skin that was sickly white, his body as strong as the strength of over a zillion men and was more firm and toned, all humanity or any trace of a soul gone from his eyes as he bored me into his bloody-red eyes that only craved one thing: blood. How could I allow my beloved Zane to be a monster?

I shook my head, trying to escape my thoughts for now, and went to the library to see if anything was going on there. The school library is quite big, though the one we have at our house is much bigger, with tables for studying and doing homework, the lastest MAC computers, and endless shelves filled with all kinds of books. As soon as I stepped into the library, everyone stopped what they were doing and turned to the doors, amazed too see I was actually in there. I merely shrugged and ignored them as I went over to the Fiction section to see if any new books came in.

As I was browsing through a book that seemed to caught my attention called _Jessica's Guide to Dating on the Dark Side, _a book about this girl named Jessica who finds out she's really a Romania vampire princess who's also engaged to this vampire prince whose acts really cocky and arrogant, I saw a familiar figure in one of the far archways by the Classics section-one of the most private corners of the library-, groaning in frustration as he was trying to read and failing to understand his French text book.

I walked over to him and said in flawless French "Le Français est manière facile une fois que vous obtenez le coup de lui. Mais nous tous les deux savons que vous êtes loin de le savoir."

Zane smiled at me as I took a seat at the desk table he was sitting at, sitting across from him. I continued to speak in French, trying to see if he could figure out what I was saying. "Nous sommes tous deux wearign les mêmes choses: tops et des jeans noirs." I said, telling him we were both wearing the same clothes: black shirts and jeans. He looked absolutely adorable dressed in a black t-shirt that clung to his muscular upper body, dark nearly black relaxed denim jeans, and paired the outfit with black sneakers, while I was dressed in a black soft cashmere ¾ sleeved turtleneck, dirty denim mini skirt over black tights, and black leather platform ankle boots.

Zane bit his pen cap as he tried to think about what I just said. Finally he snapped his fingers, and said "You said something about clothes."

"Half-right." I said, half impressed. "But can you figure out what else I said?"

He thought about it for a minute and finally gave up, bringing his head down and banging it on the table. "I'm so gonna flunk French," He groaned. I held him by his hair and brought his head up, so I could look at him. He pouted at me, which made me smile and laugh since it was too adorable and continued with his whining "And that's a bummer, since there's this hot French girl who I'm trying to seduce. And I was hoping a few sly lines would help me get her."

I ought to be jealous, but wasn't since I knew he was teasing. "Oh yeah?" I raised one eyebrow at him with a smile. "And what's she like?"

He smirked at me and said "She's way gorgeous. Has long, silky midnight black hair. Killer lips. And the most amazing body with perfect curves and amazing legs. And she's also this amazing vampire."

"And what makes you so sure you'll able to have her, this beautiful French vampire Goddess. Why do you, a mere mortal, deserve her? What do you have to offer?"

"Let's see…" He dramatically paused, scratching his chin as he thought about for a moment. "When I was in sixth grade, I won a hot-dog eating contest; can call any number three seconds flat; and was voted in middle school for being the class clown. And I can also burp the entire Alphabetic and the Pledge of Allegiance."

I covered my mouth with my hand to hide my giggles, but it didn't help. I was laughing too much. When I finally came down, I said to him "Listen and repeat after me. Donnez-moi un chaud baiser ta bouche ouverte français-, baby."

"Donnez-moi un chaud baiser ta bouche ouverte français-, baby." He said, trying his hardest to pronounce it right, which sounded pretty good to me.

I slowly smiled at him and leaned over to him, giving him a hot, French-open kiss.

He was startled when my lips collided with his, but closed his eyes and response quickly and hungrily to the kiss. When I pulled back, he was slightly flushed. He took slow breaths to calm himself and said "What was that for? Not that I'm complaining."

"You just said give me a hot, French open mouth kiss, baby and spoke it very well, I must add." I nodded; impressed to see he was at lease attempting to learn fast.

"Really?" He raised his eyebrow at me in surprise and I nodded, giggling again. "Let me try again. Donnez-moi un….um," He said, trying to figure out the rest what I said.

I shook my head and playfully rolled my eyes as I got up from my seat. I walked over to him and he welcomed me with open arms. I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck, loosely yet firmly, careful not to squeeze him too tightly or choke him with my unbelievable vampire strength. "Donnez-moi un chaud baiser ta bouche ouverte français-, baby."

He smirked at me with a sly look in his eyes, saying "You don't have to beg; of course I'll kiss you, baby."

Then just like that, our lips met again in a hot, passionate kiss. I then turned my entire body to him, straddling him, as I kissed him with lots of passion. I felt his arms wrapping around my waist, pulling me closer to him and hugging me tightly with all his strength, though the strength was too easily for me to escape. We've kissed and kissed constantly whoever we have a moment to ourselves. The each time we kissed, the kisses would become more passionate, more needing and want, more desperate and hungrily. However I always stopped us whenever we go too far. Though I would never tell this to anyone, I sometimes actually wanted more. And I can tell Zane does, too, the way he watches me so intensely, paying close attentions to my movements as we kiss. He never pushes me, which makes me love him even more and also grateful for.

I cussed my mischievous sister again, for now putting wild and desperate fantasies to my head. As I moaned into Zane's mouth, feeling his hands going under my top to gently rub my bare back and playing with the clasp of my bra, our kisses deepened and become much more intense. Feeling the way his warm lips felt against my mine, I caressed the thought of his lips kissing my bare skin. I wished to know what it would feel like to have those soft, wonderful lips on my bare skin, for us to ravage our bare bodies to each other, and to experience the passion of sex. I wished that, and wanted that.

My hands went under his shirt, caressing each of his abs on his muscular-toned 6-pack chest and felt his heartbeat speeding up as I performed this stunt. I had a great desire to whisper in his ear "I want you, I need you." And for us to just make love.

But there was also a desire to that, that's a combination of both the beast that lives within me that craves for his delicious blood and the part of me that loves and lusts for Zane, and that desire screamed for me to bite him, to make him a vampire and mine forever.

_Bite him! Bite him and make him mine!_ _MINE!_ That desire screamed in my head. I reached out and gently stroked his neck. I could feel the blood rushing beneath the surface and for a moment. I kissed him more hungrily and he quickly responded to the kisses, our tongues battling for domination, a battle I wasn't prepare to lose. Zane moaned as I trailed kisses up and down from his lips down to his neck, his soft, delicious neck filled with blood that was singing to me like a siren song, making me a prisoner of it like my siren song makes others my prey. I could practically taste him beneath my mouth; the thought of his hot blood gushing into my mouth made my mouth water and make my teeth sharpened. Just one little bite, one little bite that will either make him mine forever or my delicious snack. I came closer to his neck, preparing to take the final step of damnation, until suddenly a small voice of my inner humanity and the part that loves Zane rose within me. That when I realized what I was doing, or was about to do, and pulled back from Zane. I pushed Zane far away from me, pushing him back into his seat while I was sitting on the table, placing my hand over my mouth to cover the evidence of my inhumanity

I looked down at the ground with my hand still covering my fanged-teeth mouth, trying to clear my head and to relax. But instead of relaxing, I felt very shameful of myself as I realized what I was about to do. I was about to bite him. I could felt the beast within me that nearly caused me to do the most outrageous thing; she was laughing with dark joy and amusement, pleased that she nearly had me and that I almost did it.

Almost, but didn't.

Zane was worried of me and patted me on the back while laying my head on his shoulder. I finally put down my hand and covered it over his, while slowly closing my eyes and inhaling his wondrous scent as I tried to relax myself, letting his soothing aroma finally calming me down to relax. He finally pulled me back and placed both his hands on my shoulders, holding me firmly while looking me straight in the eyes. "Are you okay?" He asked me concernedly. His concern touched me, making me slowly smile a small smile.

"I'm fine." I answered, my small smile growing a bit more when I looked into his beautiful blue loving, caring eyes. He asked me again and I nodded yes. Then he pulled me into another hug, holding me tightly while nuzzling into my soft hair. I was still like a statue in his embrace, my face nuzzled into his shoulder. I looked at his neck once more; the tempting blood singing to me again, calling me to it. Calling me to bite him.

But I wouldn't let the beast within me win. I had control of this dangerous creature for over a century and I wasn't about to change it now. I would not give in. I would not give up. I had come too far and fought too hard for that.

"You know I love you right?" I asked him quietly, closing my eyes once more and placing a lovingly kiss on his cheek, a smile slowly curving up the corners of my lips.

He placed a long, lovingly kiss on my cheek and then kissed the corners of my lips and nuzzled back into my hair again. Though I couldn't see it, I knew he was smiling; I could feel his lips curving up into a smile. "Yeah, I do. I also hope you know that I love you, too."

I grinned, nuzzling more into his chest, listening to the marvelous sound of his heartbeat. _Mine_, whispered me of desire.

**********************************************************************************************************************

I waited by his locker, waiting for him to make his appearance from English class. As I waited, Michael Benner approached my way, with a smug smile. Just like all the others boys in my school, he has a gigantic crush on me and has asked me out over a hundred times, only to be rejected countless times by me. But still he doesn't quit. Michael's one of those boys who has the great combination of having arrogant attitude, being playboy womanizer, and a major jerk and jackass. Girls are no more than mere tokens to him. His goal to get in my pants, which is so revolting, it sickens me to death. I will admit he's attractive with his forest green eyes and honey-brown hair and all American boy looks, but his asshole attitude and personality is what makes him such a dick.

"Hey Victoria," He said, trying to act sexy with phony sexy voice, lounging against the locker, trying to look all mucho and hot. But he just looked absolutely ridiculous to me.

"Hello Michael." I answered politely, my face expressionless. I kept my eyes on the halls, scanning around for Zane. But Michael stood in front of me, blocking my view and wanting my attention to be on him.

"I was wondering," He said, leaning closer to me. "If you wanna go out with me sometime? We could have some dinner, see a movie, and maybe, if you're a good little girl, we could get hot and heavy in my brother's mustang."

I'd rather stick thousands of sharp needles in my eyes, face an entire army of newborns, or hear Rosalina talked nonstop about herself. I smirked at Michael, leaning closer to him, acting as if I was going to kiss him, and said these words loudly and clearly in his ear: "That's never going to happen, Benner. I'd rather stick needles in my eyes then spend an hour of my free time with you."

I then smirked widely while innocently shrugging my shoulders, walking away from a stunned, rejected-for-the-_1001_ time Benner. I saw Zane waiting for my in front of the cafeteria doors, scanning the hallways and then a smile splashed on his face when he saw me approaching him. He embraced me in a tight squeeze, and then I planted a kiss on his forehead. Our audience of classmates watched us with curious eyes as they walked into the lunchroom, staring at us like we were the new Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie. But we barely noticed them, we were too busy gazing at each other while smiling.

As we walked into the noisy cafeteria, the noise quickly decreased once people saw us walking inside together. Girls gossiped wildly while eyeing us with giddy giggles as the most of the boys were shooting daggers and bullets at Zane with their eyes, and green envy showing in their faces. Michael Benner looked like he was about to explode when he looked down at our hands, seeing they were tightly clasped together.

_I can't believe she actually turned my down for that geeky dweeb! But I bet my entire year's worth of allowance that it won't last. After all, how can a smoking hot girl like her possibly stay long with a loser like LaForne,_ He tried to convinced himself.

But little does he knows that's never gonna happen.

But still we ignored our audience, and only focused on each other. We talked and chatted, joking around as we walked around the lunchroom. While grabbing Cokes from the vending machine, we were debating over which cartoon character was funnier: Bugs Bunny or Daffy Duck. Personally I was fond of both cartoons, but find Bugs funnier while Daffy most of times was too ridiculous. When I make that statement to Zane, who's a huge fan of Daffy Duck, he looked at me stunned.

"Are you insane? Daffy is ten times funnier than Bugs. All that rabbit does is eating a carrot while Daffy cracks little kids all around the world with his anger traumas." Zane says, cracking open his soda and taking a gulp of it.

I giggled, shaking my head. I took a sip of Coke before saying to him "The problem with Daffy is that he tries to act funny, when he mostly acts crazy and is jumping all around the place. Bugs make people laugh without even trying."

"That, my dear, is delusional!" He exclaimed.

I shook my head in amusement, finding him sexy when he's acting both real and mocked fumed and ridiculous. His friends, Amanda and her older brother Jack approached us with curiosity. "Hey Zane," Jack greeted Zane, and then the two did some secret handshake of theirs, with their fists being banged together in three different ways and then snapping their fingers in unison. He nodded at me, with a small smile "Hey Victoria."

"Hello Jack." I flashed him a polite smile, which caught him off guard. I turned to Amanda, who was practically bursting out of her skin in joy when she saw me and Zane together. "Hello Amanda."

Amanda looked like she was about to faint when I greeted her. She placed her hand over her heart, closing her eyes with a smile splashed on her face in pure bliss. When she slowly opened her eyes again, she looked at me like I was a big, world-famous celebrity who picked her autograph to sign over a hundred other fans. "Hey Victoria." She said, with the huge, mega-watt smile on her face.

Zane and I slowly turned to each other, and Zane slightly nodded his head to Amanda and then did a crazy-person expression. I elbowed him lightly in the ribs, but apparently my lightness was still hard to him, since he was groaning while rubbing his ribs in pain.

Jack shuts his sister up by placing his hand over her hand and pushing her aside. "Excuse my brain-damage sister," He apologized to us "She didn't take her medicine today." Amanda scowled behind him and slapped him hard at the back of his head. Though Jack maintained cool and calm, I readied his mind and he was screaming in pain in his head. "Anyway man," He said to Zane "Are you eating lunch with us today?" He then turned to me and quickly added "If that's okay with you, Victoria."

Zane was tore between his choices and I could tell he didn't want to hurt my feelings, so I quickly said "You can sit with your friends. I don't mind. Besides Alice said she had something unbelievably important that she wanted to tell me."

Zane looked into my eyes to see if I was sure, and I nodded yes with a smile. I then pecked his soft, kissable lips and went over to purchase lunch. They were serving Sloppy Joes today, one of the human foods that Rosalina absolutely loathes. And seeing how the ground beef looked with its sloppiness and disgustingness, I couldn't blame her for hating the crap. But still I grabbed a plate of the disgusting food and placed it on my plate. After I paid for it, I walked over to a table by the right corner where my siblings were already seated.

Alice and Jasper were gazing at each other, kissing one another with their eyes. Elliot actually bought three Sloppy Joes, with the extra meaty-sauce overflowing, and dangling one of them in front of Rosalina, playfully threatening to spill it on her expensive designer mini dress. Rosaline held napkins in front of her with right hand, trying to protect her precious dress from the disgusting Sloppy Joe, while slapping Elliot's hand that was holding the over-sauced sandwich with her left. Her attention was then turned to me, as she watched me sitting down next to Jasper. She finally slapped the Sloppy Joe out of Elliot's hand, and crossed her arms with her eyes becoming coldly hard and stern. Since our argument about Zane's possible transformation, I've pretty much been ignoring her but she still tries to explain to me that she was right.

"Are you still not speaking to me?" She asked me.

I simply ignored her, blocking out her voice from my ears. I took a sip of my soda and then looked at the table where Zane was sitting at with his friends, seeing them all smiling, talking and laughing. Sensing that I was looking at him, he suddenly turned to me and smiled. I placed my elbow on the table and rested my hand under chin, while waving to him with my other hand. Zane faintly blushed, with his smile still in place, and then gave me a sly smile that I found incredibly sexy and winked at me. I giggled, winking back at him and blowing him a kiss. He shot his hand in the air, pretending he caught it and stored it in his jeans' pockets for save-keeping, sending another sly and cute wink my way.

"Awww," Elliot said, shockingly sounding exactly like Alice when she's in her giddy moments. He looked back and forth at me and Zane, with a smug smile growing more and more on his face. "Isn't that sweet? Vicky finally has herself a boyfriend."

"Yeah," I murmured, my smile slowly vanishing and my face becoming expressionless as I watched Zane, who was having a conversation with Ricky and Jack. "A boyfriend who's never going to stop thinking about Rosalina's suggestion," I turned to my brothers and sisters, wanting their advice on this. "Though I can't mind read his mind, I can tell by his eyes that he still wants this. I know you all, especially you Rosalina, think I should just turn him. But I can't. He has his own life, his own future ahead of him. I refuse to take that anyway from him."

"But he is willing to give all that up just to be with you, Victoria," Jasper said while wiping his lips with a napkin. "Which proves to me that he loves you and cares for you too much that he will do anything for you, even if that requires giving up his soul."

I listened to my brother, hearing his reason and agreeing he was also right. Then again, Jasper always right. To the human eye, my brother seems like an average 19 year old boy, when really he's almost a century, filled with wisdom and knowledge that practically makes him Carlisle's real son.

The others agreed, putting in their thoughts to the idea that were similar to Jasper's response. I only sat and listened to each one, until suddenly I sat up straight, feeling a jolt traveling through my body. My vision of the loud, noisy cafeteria was fading away, replaced with a different image.

_A couple was out in the woods at nighttime, inside their tent things where things were getting hot and heavy as they were having a steamy making out session. The young strawberry-blonde who looked like she was in her twenties pushed away from her boyfriend, who still wanted to make out some more. "Easy there tiger," She told him. "I f I know you were going to be this activate, then I should have brought extra condoms."_

"_I think they're some in the car," The boyfriend said, stealing kisses from his girlfriend's lips. "I'm gonna go get them."_

"_Okay, but bring an umbrella. I think it's going to rain soon."_

"_No, it's not," The boyfriend stole one lat kiss from her, before grabbing a flashlight and heading out of the tent. _

_The girlfriend waited patiently for a few minutes, playing with her reddish-blond hair to pass the time. Then suddenly she heard raindrops outside her tent. She grinned, thinking she was right about the rain and her boyfriend should have listened to her. She grabbed a flashlight and went outside to find her boyfriend to gloat. "See, I told you it was going to rain," She gloated. _

_But to her surprise it wasn't raining, and she couldn't find her boyfriend either. She looked around the entire woods, but still couldn't find him. Suddenly the drops restarted again, dripping more loudly. The girl slowly turned around, seeing rain drops falling on the tent. But the drops were dark red, in a nearly black color, and were falling from the tree. Scared to find out where or what the drops were coming from, the girlfriend slowly lifted her flashlight up on the tree._

_And saw her boyfriend's pale, lifeless body on the tree branch with blood dripping from his bitten neck._

_The girl screamed at the top of her lungs; her flashlight falling to the ground, the glass shattering. She then ran for her life, running to her Jeep. But just as she was about to enter the car, something grabbed her from above and biting into her neck, killing her._

Another powerful jolt ended my vision and awakened me from my trance. The noisy cafeteria was now back; noise being made by people still talking, screaming, and laughing loudly. My siblings seemed to noticed what just happened to me, all of them looking at me curiosity and closely. All expect for Alice, who looked like she was snapping out of her own trance. Jasper, who was sandwiched between us, looked back and forth at me and Alice, wondering which one of us should go first.

"You both had a vision," He asked us. My sister and I both nodded in unison. "Which one of you wants to go first?"

Alice and I then looked at each other. "Do you want to go first?" She asked me, but I can tell by her tone that she really wanted to. Her eyes, mind, and the expression on her face gave it away.

"You can go first," I said. "After all, you're the real physic. I only see deaths happening."

The others agreed and then turned to Alice. Alice took a quiet moment to close her eyes and to think about her vision. Finally she opened her eyes again, looking at each of us slowly, before finally saying "I saw visitors. And they're going to be coming real soon. I don't know when, but real soon. And they looked _thirsty_."

For a long moment, no one said a thing. Each one of us only looked at the table, lost in our thoughts. Alice seemed to be worrying about her vision, and Jasper took her hand and kissed it softly before holding it firmly in his. Finally I broke the silent, saying "Then they must be the culprits who's responsible for the death I just saw."

They turned their heads quickly toward me, and I continued "In the vision I saw, a couple was alone in the woods. When the girlfriend came out from the tent, she saw her boyfriend's lifeless body on a tree branch, with remaining blood dripping from his neck. She ran to her car in horror, but before she could there, the person pulled her up and killed her, too. Silencing her with a bite on the neck, ending her life quickly. And I presume that one of the visitors Alice just saw from her vision was the same one who caused the couple's deaths."

None of us said a word after that. From the corner of my eye, I saw Zane watching us, especially me. He looked worried. I forced a small smile on my face, but he still didn't buy it.

"When does that happen, Victoria?" Alice asked me, her question causing me to tear my eyes away from Zane and turned to her.

"The death dates above their heads said next Sunday at 10:45 P.M." I answered.

Elliot placed both his elbows above the table, placing his chin under his laced hands, thinking awfully long about something. He then lifted his head up and looked at all of us; all his usually teasing and humor were erased from his face. "Then it's obvious what we have to do," He said, his tone harden with firm seriousness. "We have to tell Carlisle. He has to know about this."

"Problem is," Rosalina said, crossing her arms. "We don't know when they're coming. The deaths Victoria saw aren't going to happen till Sunday, and we don't even know if the couple was attacked in the woods near here. It could have been somewhere else."

"But what if it _is _here?" Elliot said, trying to reason with her.

But as always my spoiled princess for a sister wouldn't hear of it. "I still say you're only jumping to conclusions and that we shouldn't have to worry about anything happening-at lease not yet."

"By God, Rosalina, you can't expect us to just sit around and do nothing! I won't have it, and simply won't stand for it. We have to be prepared for whatever these visitors might throw at us." Jasper exclaimed in angry frustration, pounding his fist powerfully on the table, causing the table to nearly break in half.

Jasper was normally the most calm out of the five of us, and to see him like that was very surprising. Then again, when it came to fighting, Jasper never kids around.

Before he was changed, Jasper spent his last human years fighting in an army against a great war. Then after he was changed, my brother continued fighting, but for a different army. He worked for a Spanish woman named Maria, who was also a vampire and the same one who turned Jasper into one. Maria led great large armies of newborn vampires, who were a thousand times better than a mere, regular army. Jasper worked along side with Maria, and was in charge destroying the newborns when they were done serving their purpose. Though he hates talking about his past, Jasper tells us how the place was-cold, isolated, and was like hell, where a hundred of people were transformed and destroyed. And how the place was filled with bloodshed.

He also tells us how if it wasn't for a comrade of his who convinced Jasper to leave the place with him along with his soul mate, he would have never met Alice and joined our clan/family, and would still remained in that hellish place.

With Rosalina and Jasper against each other, Alice, and Elliot, and I took a vote and decide yes. A faint smile shined on my brother's face, while Rosalina was shooting bullets at us with her eyes. With some time remaining in lunch period, Jasper took out his phone and hurriedly ran out the cafeteria to report to Carlisle.

My siblings returned talking to each other, expect for me who remained quiet, lost in my thoughts. I couldn't stop thinking about death vision I just saw in my head. Thinking about the young couple almost saddened me. You'd think I'd get used to see death visions and knowing death dates, but still I'm not. Knowing when and sometimes how someone's life is gonna end, makes me feel horrible, as if I'm the devil. Just like my reading mind ability, I can see everyone's death date. Every person's death date flowing above their heads, stating the date and time, writing in bold crimson red. Every single person in the school cafeteria had their death date written above their heads. Every person including…Zane.

Though I never done this with another person's death, I tried to prevent his from happening, preventing it twice. But I know I can't be doing that; I'm interfering with his fate and I can't do that forever.

Looking at my beloved soul mate brought both blissful joy and dreading pain to my heart. Soon day he will be gone forever, leaving me alone in this cold world. But at lease he'll live a nice life, and I'll be there for him wherever he needs me.

*********************************************************************************************************************

**After School**

I beamed with delight as he moaned into my mouth; my head was swimming in pure bliss as I felt his hands caressing my curves, handling me so gently and delicately like I was fine china. My SUV was parked in front of his house, and we were in the backseat of my car, exchanging hot, passionate kisses and making out. The make out was so hot that all the windows in my car were all steamed up.

He hovered over me, while I was lying flat on the car seats, kissing me with such wanting intensity. Oh, how I craved his kisses and soft, delicious lips and tongue. I grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him more to me, not wanting the kiss to end.

My lips trailed up to his ear, playfully nibbling it while being caution and taming my blood-thirsty inner beast. His ear tasted so sweetly delicious, just like the rest of him.

"Victoria." He grunted. The bulge in his pants was getting bigger and bigger, his heartbeat was racing. I smirked against his soft, warm skin.

He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me passionately and hungrily again. I moaned as he deepened it, our kisses getting more and more intense. His hands went under my top and slowly ridden it up, gliding slowly up my back and playing with the clasp of my bra and then went to the front, gently caressing the curves of my breasts.

If it were up to me, we would be kissing forever, but then I remembered that he was a human and he needed some oxygen. "Okay, whoa. We need to stop." I said, slowly pulling my lips away from his and pushing him back.

Zane leaned against the seat, taking a few moments to catch his breath. His chestnut brown hair was a mess, his face was the most flush I've ever seen it, his lips were swollen red from all that kissing.

But he looked sexy and adorable at the same time.

I smiled at him, while sitting up in the car seat, straightening my slightly messy hair and my very-high ridden up top.

When he finally calmed himself down, he turned back to me and smiled widely. He leaned against me and nuzzled into my chest. I smiled even more as I held him more closely and firmly to me, and gently stroked his hair. It was like holding a little baby in my arms. I wondered if this was how my mother felt when she held me when I was a small infant, soothing and blissful.

"You know what's funny?" He asked me.

I shook my head, still smiling as I stroked his chestnut hair. He wrapped both his arms around my waist and nuzzled more against my chest, leaning against it like it was a pillow. "For a vampire who's suppose to have hard skin, yours is actually starting to feel almost soft. Almost as soft as a pillow."

I giggled softly, and then grew silent as my thoughts came over me. I looked down at him and asked "How would you like to meet my family?"

He turned quiet for a moment after I asked my question, his body stiffening. He hesitated, choosing to play my inky hair than to answer me. After moments of playing with my black hair, he looked up at me, his blue eyes intense with sudden nervousness. "I'd like to meet them, but I'm just worried."

He didn't have to say anymore. I understood. If I was a human, I'd be freaking out, too, walking into a household of blood-sucking vampires.

"Don't worry, I'll protect you." I told him, with a comforting smile.

He slowly shook his head. "I'm not worried about that, well, expect for Rosalina. And we both know how she feels about me," He said. "I'm just worried about what the rest of your family will think about me."

"So let me get this straight. You're walking into a household of blood-sucking vampires, and you're actually worried about what they'll think about you." I said in disbelief, couldn't believe the words coming out from my mouth.

He nodded, and I tried desperately to hold my laughter in. I cleared my throat to clam myself down. Once I accomplished that, I gave him a comforting smile and told him "Don't worry about it, they'll love you. Just like I do."

He slowly smiled back at me, which made me smile even wider. I just couldn't resist him. I gently yet quickly cupped his face and kissed him passionately on the lips.

_Mine_, I thought blissfully with a grin as I kissed him.

*********************************************************************************************************************

**Zane's POV**

If someone asked me to tell them what I loved about Victoria, my _girlfriend_, then the list would be endless, almost as long as a kid's Christmas wish list to Santa Claus.

I loved everything about her. Her looks with true beauty that's likeness to an angel's; her absolutely gorgeous body that belongs to a goddess; her mysterious personality that can be both firmly serious and sometimes teasing and fun; her dazzling smile that melts my heart every time it lights up her face; her silkily, soft, long midnight inky hair; her golden/ sometimes dark eyes; absolutely everything.

In fact the more I thought about it, the more Victoria reminds me more and more of Sienna Devereux, a character from a vampire book series called _Vampire Beach_, a book series my twelve year old kid cousin Tanya was obsessed with and talks nonstop about, and even convinced me-after begging over a hundred times-to read the books.

Sienna's the gorgeous, irresistible yet unattainable vampire girl, just like Victoria. The similarities between her and Victoria are way too alike. For one, Sienna's looks with long, black hair; gorgeous face and body, and dark eyes are exactly like Victoria's-expect my Victoria was way more gorgeous and prettier. Both girls can be serious yet teasingly fun at the same time.

When I told Victoria this, she looked at me like I was crazy, and then suddenly burst into laughter. She laughed so hard, I thought she was going to die from it.

Once she calmed herself down, with the giggles still in her, she turned to me and punched me on the arm.

The punch may have been light as a feather to her, but hurt like hell just like any other punch. "Ow!" I exclaimed in both mock and real pain, rubbing the arm she just punched. "God dammit woman, I need two of those."

She giggled again and brushed her long, inky hair away from her eyes. "So you actually think I'm like Sienna?" She asked, raising her eyebrow in suspicion and with some amusement.

"Well you both have the same exact drop-dead gorgeous movie star-slash-supermodel looks, although you're far more beautiful. You both are amazing vampires and awesome girlfriends. And you have mysterious, teasingly fun yet serious personalities. But unlike Sienna, you don't feed on guys when you seduce them at parties to get their blood." I told her.

After saying the last part, the thought of Victoria actually doing that stuck in my head for some reason. I looked at her suspiciously, and asked "You_ don't_ feed guys at parties, do you?"

She played with the tips of her dark hair, thinking of an answer to that question. She looked up at me, twirling a strand of her hair while saying with a simple shrug "Depends on the boy and how he tastes. Actually, the last boy I fed on was Michael Benner at the winter ball."

I didn't say a word after that, I was too shock to even think. The way she acted and talked about it so casually caused my bright blue eyes to pop wide and my mouth to dropped open wide. The very thought of Victoria flirting dangerously with that asshole Benner, probably kissing her neck while ran his filthy hands all over her graceful body and touching her curves, and her feeding on his blood in a private corner was just too unbelievable, making me shocked and extremely jealous.

Victoria stopped playing with her hair when she noticed how I was suddenly quiet. She looked up at me, taking in the shocked expression on my face and was puzzled by it.

She suddenly punched my arm and a smile lit up her expressionless face. "I'm just joking, idiot." She giggled. I scowled at her, but that only made her laugh more. "In case you haven't noticed, my family's _vegetarians _and we only drink _animal_ blood. Although Rosalina did fed on two boys during a huge, wild party in Europe. The guys were too drunk to even realize what was going on."

I stared at her at utter disbelief. "And you had me think you feed on other guys?"

"Yeah, and you were too gullible enough to believe it," She laughed once more. When she finally calmed herself down, she turned serious again and wrapped both arms around my neck, her lips only a breath away from mine. "So, I'll pick you up at seven?" She asked with that beautiful smile of hers.

"At seven." I agreed, and then we kissed one more time before I grabbed my backpack and got out of the car. She walked me to the door, gave me another goodbye kiss, and then walked back to her car. She started up her SUV, and then drove away.

I unlocked the door and stepped into the house, locking and shutting the door behind me while dumping my bag on the floor. It was already four, so I head three hours to get ready before Victoria comes and introduces me to her family.

If I said I wasn't nervous, then I'm lying. I was shaking too much on the inside. I wasn't nervous about walking into a household of vampires since I knew the Rains wouldn't hurt me-well at least most of them wouldn't , not counting Rosalina who sees me as nuisance. I was worried about what they'll think of me. I don't need to worry about Rosalina because we made it clear to each other that we hate each other, but I still wanted the rest of the Rains to have a good judgment of me.

I doubted that they were any guide books about what to do when you meet your vampire girlfriend's family. So I just decided to change into something more decent. I changed out of my black t-shirt and jeans and changed into an off-white colored sweater, olive-greenish khaki cargo pants, and some plain sneakers. I even made an attempt to make my mop-top of just-got-out-of-bed messy hair decent by combing it down.

When I came downstairs again took on my homework in the kitchen, my mom was already back from another long shift at the hospital and she looked like she was about to collapse any minute with lots of tired bags under her eyes. She turned to me, watching as I walked down the stairs, and smiled. "Well, well, well. Look at you, handsome. Let me guess, you're going on another date with Victoria."

"Mom!" I said in a warned tone, my eyes pleading to her not to embarrass me. I still remembered how last Saturday when Victoria came to my house early before I was ready, and Eliza, playing her role perfectly as the embarrassing mom, showed her a big album of my baby pictures, showing Victoria the ones of me in the bathtub. I nearly died; I wanted to die right then and there. "I'm going over to her house for dinner. Please don't embarrass me."

"Then I shouldn't tell Victoria about the thirty-seven sketches and portraits you drew of her in those sketchbooks of yours."

"You looked through my sketchbooks!" I fumed, charging up to Eliza, my hands balled up into fists. "Mom, those are personal! They're like secret diaries to me. I can't believe you went through them, invading my privacy!"

"Now don't be such a fussy, Zany-bear," She said with a simple wave of her hand. "Besides since you barely clean up your mess of a room and leave your sketchbooks everywhere, I couldn't resist looking through them while cleaning your room."

I wanted to tell her off, to angrily protest that she had no right going through my personal times. But everytime I opened my mouth, nothing would came out. I just shook my head at my giggling mother, glaring at her angrily. Then just went to the kitchen, trying to concrete on my homework while blocking out my mom's loud laughter.

Time went by faster than I thought. By the time I was finally done with my homework, including irritating French, the clock's time changed to seven and a spilt moment after that, the bell rang and I heard a knock. My heart skipped two or even beats, one of the stunning things that always happen whenever I know she's around. I quickly stuffed my books into my backpack, then walked into the hallway and took a look at myself in the mirror, checking to make sure I looked okay.

I gulped nervously, sucking in my breath before slowly letting it go. Finally I, very slowly, opened the door and was greeted by the dark ravenette angel.

She was already there, waiting outside for me as she stood on the front door porch. She looked amazing, like she always does. She was dressed in a dark plum purple, spaghetti-strapped, crochet-bodice dress with the flowing, fluttering hem a few inches above her knees and a big bow tied at the back, and wore a pair of black ballerina-looking flats. Her silkily mane of black hair was in a casual pulled-back hairstyle with her inky wavy curls bouncing off her shoulders and cascading down her back.

I only stood there, trying to calm my fast-beating heart that was pounding loud by the sight of her.

"You look beautiful." I finally said, after long moments went by.

She smiled her incredibly sexy, slow smile at me. "Thank you," She said. "You look handsome."

I was about to say another compliant to her, until I noticed something. I leaned in closer and noticed some changes in Victoria. Her eyes that were dark butterscotch gold this afternoon when I saw her darkened extremely to a very dark, nearly-black color, with light lavender bags under her eyes.

"You're thirsty," I concluded, saying it in a soft whisper. I cupped her left cheek with my hand and used my thumb to gently stroke her eyelid. I wasn't sure if I was helping her with the thirst by touching her cheek and being close to her. But still I was concerned, and wanted to comfort her.

"I'm fine," She murmured back. "I've dealt with thirst before. I can deal with it again."

Leaving no room for discussion about the matter, she grabbed my hand and walked me over to her car. The car ride was long and silent, but sometime after driving for awhile, Victoria reached out for my hand and stoked it ever so gently.

I looked down at our hands that were intertwined and then looked up at her, smiling. And very slowly she returned my smile.

The Rains' house was on the very outskirts of Albuquerque, practically more than twenty-five miles from here. If it wasn't for Victoria's fast-speed driving, it would have taken us a huge amount time to get there.

Finally she stopped her SUV in front of a dark place that looked like it was the forest, and got out of the car. And stood outside my door, waiting for me to come out. When I finally came out, she led me through acres of trees and trees. She then stopped and turned to me.

I stood behind her, looking around the place, flabbergasted.

The Rains' house wasn't a simple house, it was a mansion. An instantly huge mansion surrounded by so much space and wide ranges of acres. The mansion was so beautiful and big that it puts huge mansions in LA to shame. The size of the big house was unbelievably huge, as big as a castle. Its beauty ancient was priceless, with its Victorian Middle Ages Times style, looking like it was over centuries old.

As Victoria opened the door to the mansion and led me inside, I saw more and more how the mansion looked more beautiful, more surprising. It was very bright, very open, and very large. There had to be over several rooms that I bet were massive, but the walls had been removed from most of the first floor to create one wide space. The back, south-facing wall had been entirely replaced with glass, and, beyond the shade of the cedars, the lawn stretched bare to the wide river. A massive curving staircase dominated the west side of the room. The walls, the high-beamed ceilings, the wooden floors, and the thick carpets were all varying shades of white.

As we walked into the kitchen, which was as big and well-decorated like a restaurant, I saw a glimpse of the family that was already there, as if they were walking for us.

It amazed me to see Dr. Carlisle again, and even amazed more by his young handsome looks that practically made him a teenager. He was dressed in casual clothes and happily reading his newspaper while being seated at a large dining table that looked big enough to be seated for twenty or thirty people. A young beautiful woman with a hint of camel-dark skin and short brown hair that was cut in a crop hairstyle with looks so young and stunning, she could be considered a teenager herself, was also presented and dressed in causal clothes. Since I've never seen her before, I only assumed she was their adopted mother, Emma. And Eliza was right: she does look too young to have a kid, much less adopted teenagers. Emma was watching the cooking channel on a small white T.V, watching a chef making an Italian meal and copying down the way he was doing while trying to make the meal herself. Elliot stood next to her, helping her make the dinner by handing her the ingredients. And, just my luck, Rosalina was also in the kitchen, standing in front of Emma and Elliot and watched them as they cooked, with a frown on her face.

The moment Victoria and I stepped into the kitchen, walking in hand-in-hand, they all swiftly turned to us to glare. I gulped nervously, suddenly feeling out of place and awkward. It was like my first day at East High all over again.

If you asked me how long they just looked at us, I would have said a long century. But in reality, it was only less than five minutes. But still were the longest minutes of my life. They just stood still examining me with their eyes, each one with a different expression on his/her face.

Emma broke the silent tension by slowly putting down the knife and the chicken she was cooking, and washed her hands clean in the sink and wiped them with the white apron she was wearing. She then walked forward to us, with her arms wide open and a big smile on her face. She embraced me very tightly in her arms, nearly squeezing me to death, and said in the friendliest voice "Welcome Zane."

Finally she released me from her tight embrace and stuck her hand for me to shake. "I'm Emma Rain."

It took me a minute to get myself together. And when I did, I returned her smile and shook her hand, which was extremely cold. "Nice to meet you, Mrs. Rain."

"Oh please call me Emma." She said.

"Okay," I hesitated. "Emma."

That made the smile on her face wider. Dr. Carlisle rose from his chair and walked over to us, standing behind his wife and wrapped one arm around her shoulder. "It's nice to see you again, Zane. You look well." He said in a voice that was just as friendly as his wife's.

"Nice to see you again, too, Dr. Rain."

"Please call me Carlisle."

"Carlisle." I grinned at him, my sudden coincidence surprising me. I could feel Victoria's relief by my side.

"I hope you're hungry," Emma said, rubbing her hands together giddily. "I made Italian cuisine just for you."

"Yeah, our mom loves any excuse she can get for using the barely-used kitchen." Elliot said, walking over to join the group. He eyed me with such firmness that it nearly imitated me, until a big grin splashed on his face. He held out his hand and I eventually shook it, smiling back at him. "Finally I'm getting to know the infamous Zane, who captured my sister's heart. The name's Elliot."

I looked at all of their warm faces and welcoming smiles, feeling the nervousness quickly slipping away and my confidence growing by the minute. "It's really great to meet all of you."

The second that came out from my mouth, Rosalina looked like a volcano that was seconds away from madly exploding. She clutched onto the fine china plates too tightly, causing them to break into millions of pieces. Everyone turned to her, seeing how extremely fumed she was and eyed the cuts on her hands that were by the broken plates, and watched as the wounds healed in no time. Rosalina was breathing hard in anger, balling her fists so tightly that you could see the bones in her hands. "I'm so happy to see everyone likes you, Zane!" She exclaimed in both mock sarcasm and angrily fumed. She then turned to her family and continued "And I hope they all know what will happen if he opens his big fucking mouth!"

"I would never do anything to expose you guys, much less hurt you." I exclaimed, defending myself as I took a step closer to Rosalina. I wasn't going to let her tell me off and make me feel like crap.

Rosalina wanted to walk closer to me; looking like she wanted punch the living hell out of me, but luckily Elliot had my back and held back his fuming adopted sister/girlfriend/soul mate. "I can tell you two are going to get along just swimmingly." He said.

"Where are Jasper and Alice?' Victoria asked, wanting to move on form this crazy little episode. But no one answered her, as they had just appeared at the top of the staircase.

"Hey V!" Alice called out enthusiastically. She ran down the stairs, in a streak of dark brown hair and white skin, and was suddenly standing right in front of me. Carlisle and Emma shot her warning glares, but I didn't mind it. I met Alice before a couple of times and knew this was natural-well, at lease for her.

"Hi Zane!" She greeted me with the biggest, cheeriest smile and kissed me on the cheek, ignoring the glares Carlisle and Emma were giving her.

No one seemed to know what to do next, and then there was Jasper, standing behind Alice-all tall and leonine. A feeling of ease went through me, and I was suddenly comfortable despite the situation where I was. Victoria shot a look at Jasper, raising her eyebrow at him, and I then remember about his ability.

"It's very nice to meet you, Zane." He said, keeping his distance between us. But thanks to his ability, I was too comfortable to even be bothered by it. Jasper looked at me in a strange way, his eyes looking thirsty, but I could see he was struggling to keep himself under control.

"Well it great to meet all of you." I said to them all, even to Rosalina who only scowled more at me. But I only smirked at her.

"Let me show you around the house." Victoria said, taking my hand and leading me away from the kitchen and her family. She led me outside, walking me to the calm river near the house that was surrounded by trees, reminding me of our meadow. I couldn't help myself taking another glare at the house and becoming more astonished. This place seemed like the kind of place a kid could play in for hours, playing with their friends in imagination games. Victoria grabbed my hand and we sat beside the river.

"They seem nice." I told her.

She nodded her head, looking at our reflection in the river's water. She picked up a twig and used it to stir the water, and then finally dipped it in the lake. "They all are so happy, happy that I finally found a soul mate. And are happy that I found you.

"Rosalina doesn't." I said.

Victoria looked at me. And was saddened by the concern look on my face. "Rosalina struggles the most about what we are. That's why she loathes you because underneath all that hate, is great envy. She wishes to be like you, a human again. Then again, we all wish that." Her saddens vanished and was replaced by an unreadable expression on her face. She then laid my head on her chest, and wrapped her arms around me. "Alice and Elliot like you a lot, and Elliot is trying to reason to Rosalina."

I was to stun to speak for a moment. I honestly couldn't believe Rosalina hated me so much because she was jealous of me being human. In fact I couldn't believe or picture vampires being jealous of humans.

"Japer seems cool," I murmured moments later.

Victoria nodded, still holding me tightly. I then wrapped my arms around her waist, nuzzling more into her chest. "Jasper is recently new to this. I warned him to keep his distance."

I thought about the reason and nodded, understanding.

"Emma and Carlisle?" I said out loud.

"Are very happy that I finally found someone, and were bursting in joys in their heads. Especially Emma. I was so young when Carlisle changed me, and she's just so happy for me. When she saw us walking into the kitchen, holding hands, she was screaming in her mind with happiness."

Things got quiet after that; the only thing making a sound was my heartbeat and the sound of the river. I looked at Victoria, who was stroking my hair gently with an emotionless look on her face, not giving me a hint of what she was thinking.

I decided to do something to make her smile.

"Funny thing is you said you're this big, bad monster. I hate to burst your bubble, but you're not so scary as you think." I said causally.

She stopped, raising her eyebrows in blatant disbelief. Her puzzled face was unreadable, as she looked down at me. Then she slowly flashed me a wide, wicked smile.

"You_ really_ shouldn't have said that." She chuckled.

I quickly stood up and backed away from her. She smiled her wicked smile at me and then growled a low sound in the back of her throat. Her body then shifted suddenly, half-crouched, tensed like a lion about to pounce.

I backed more away from her, glaring.

"You wouldn't."

I didn't see her leap at me-it was too fast. I only found myself suddenly being airborne, and then we crashed on the ground, rolling down on the grass like we were rolling down the hill. All the while, her arms formed an iron cage of protection around me-I was trying to fight her off, to break free.

But she wasn't having that. She hovered over me and was straddling me, holding me more securely than iron chains. I glared at her in alarm, but she only grinned with her eyes bright with humor, loving the fact that she was in control.

"You were saying." She said with little girl innocent, smiling sweetly.

"That you're a very, very scary monster," I said, my sarcasm well heard but was a bit muffled by my breathless voice.

"Much better." She approved.

"This is so wrong. My girlfriend is stronger than me. What will my mother think? Or Jack think?" I said with mocked horror.

She only laughed, slowly getting off of me while laughing even more. I sat up straight and looked at her, smiling. I loved hearing her musical laughter, it just makes me smile.

When we finally we went back inside the mansion, Victoria led me into the dining room which was huge and elegantly-decorated with fine china on the table, looking like an Italian restaurant. We took our seats, sitting next to each other and then the rest of the family came in, taking their places at the table. Emma was the last one to come into the kitchen, carrying a tray of delicious-looking food.

"I hope you like this, Zane. It's chicken pasta, a very tasty and popular Italian cuisine." She placed the food in front of me, cutting me a big piece of it and putting it on my plate.

Feeling everyone's eyes on me, I used a fork and knife to cut a small piece of the chicken cuisine and stuck it in my mouth, chewing it slowly and finally swallowing it. I wiped my mouth with a wine-red table cloth napkin, and looked up at Emma's hoping, anxious face. "It's taste delicious." I smiled at her.

She was delighted by my words, and cut me a bigger piece of the Italian food. As I took another bite of the delicious food, I couldn't help but feel strange by the fact I was the only eating at the table while everyone else had nothing else to do, expect watch me. Victoria seemed to know how I felt, since she suddenly stood up from her seat and asked everyone "How about a drink?"

"Yes!" Alice said. "I'm perched."

"As am I," Jasper said. "Can you get us the special one, sister?"

Victoria nodded, and then turned to me. "What about you, Zane?"

"You mean you actually have beer here?" I asked.

Victoria shrugged. "Beer, Brandy, wine, champagne. We mostly collect wine from all over the world. How about I get you some red wine from Spain? It's 1890, and very good."

"Yeah, that would be good." I smiled at her. She squeezed my hand very lightly, and went off to the cellar to get the drinks. So that just left me with the rest of the family.

Rosalina took out a pack of fancy-looking French cigarettes and took one from the pack that was long than an average cigarette and looked old-fashion. And lit one up with her lighter. "So tell me, Zane. What so you mostly do for fun? You know, besides being an insect." She glared at me coldly, smoke escaping her lips. The smoke's perfume was strong and a usual scent, making me coughs a bit.

My glare matched hers. "Well I mostly love to read and listening to music. Sketching, though, is mostly my passion."

"You're an artist?" Carlisle asked. "Well that's extraordinary. Do you take any lessons, take art classes?"

"I mostly got the art gene from my grandfather, from my mom's side. He used to do portraits at the beach for ten dollars each. He taught me everything there is to know about art." I took another bite of the cuisine.

The Rains looked impressed, all expect for Rosalina. She inhaled her cigarette deeply, and leaned over toward me, deliberately blowing a huge cloud of smoke into my face, making me cough like crazy. She smirked, leaning back into her seat. Emma shot Rosalina a glare while patting my back, looking at me concernedly.

"I'm guessing you don't smoke?" Jasper asked me.

"I do. It's just I'm not used to smoke with that much strong scent." I said, glaring coldly at Rosalina. She only smirked more at me, while taking another hit of her cigarette.

Elliot took out a pack of Marlboro brand cigarettes with a red Bic lighter, lightening a cigarette for himself and then tossed me the pack and the lighter. "Take a hit," He said, puffing away with his cigarette. "Just don't inhale too quickly, unless you want to fry your lungs."

I rolled my eyes in annoyance. I came from a family of smokers and I've been smoking since I was fifteen; of course I knew how to smoke. I flickered the lighter on a few times, before I lit its fire with the cigarette. Then I stuck it in my mouth, inhaling it deeply and passed back the rest back to Elliot.

Victoria came back with the two bottles of wine and glasses. She poured me a glass of the Spain red wine while pouring everyone else, including herself, a glass of the other wine.

Before I took a sip of mine, the Rains were already eagerly chugging down theirs in one gulp, taking another glass or two of their special wine. I turned to Victoria, whose eyes were closed as she slowly drank her wine. Somehow knowing that I was looking at her, she put down her glass and slowly opened her eyes, flickering them at me. Her eyes were still dark, but looked more alive and brighter; the lavender bags under her eyes were slowly disappearing.

"What is that you're drinking?" I asked, pointing at her half-empty wine glass.

"You really wanna know?' She asked, raising her eyebrow curiously at me while taking another big and slow sip of her wine.

"Yeah." I nodded hesitated.

She didn't answer me at first, and only finished her wine and poured herself another glass of it. She stirred the wine in her glass by slowly stirring the glass in her hand, before taking another big and slow sip of the stuff. She turned to me and finally answered "Blood."

"Oh." I then shrugged casually, returning to my mouth-watering delicious food. You'd think I'd be freaked out by that. But I'm starting to get used to the fact that she drinks blood-as long as it isn't human blood.

The rest of the dinner went okay. The Rains asked me a lot of questions and I answered them back. Elliot cracked some wise jokes, making everyone relax and laugh. Rosalina thankfully kept quiet, only taking sips of her blooded wine while puffing away with her cigarettes.

By the end of dinner, Victoria took my hand and took me upstairs. Famous paintings by very famous, talented artists were adorned on the hallway wall; every room she showed me was decorated like royalty. And the rooms were massive, at lease five times bigger than an average room.

"This is my room." Victoria informed, turning the knob of the last room in the hallway and walking inside. I looked around the room in stunned silence. Man, was it _huge_. The walls were white and bare; golden silk curtains hung on the windows; shelves covered with lots of CDs' and books, along with a huge expensive-looking stereo system; a big walk-in closet filled with all kinds of clothes; an old-fashion white fireplace roaring a toasty fire; an amazing balcony with a great view; and complete furniture set in black leather.

I walked around the room, looking at everything. "So, no bed?" I asked, turning back to Victoria, but already knew the answer to the question.

Victoria smirked as she watched over to the black leather couch and pulled out the cushions, and unfolded the sofa bed.

I smiled at her while shaking my head, and turned to the shelves filled with books and CDs'. "This is amazing." I told her.

"I guess," She shrugged casually. "Would you like to listen to some music?"

I nodded, and she grabbed the stereo remote, turning it on. The stereo loaded the CD in, and the then suddenly Michael Jackson _I just can't stop loving you _filled the room with its soft music and amazing melody.

"I love this song so much. It's my favorite song of Michael Jackson," Victoria says, and then stuck out her hand to me. "May I have this dance?"

She didn't have to ask twice. I pulled her into my arms and began to sway with her to the music, her body pressed to mine with our curves fitting perfectly, as if we were two pieces to the same puzzle. I wrapped my arms tightly around her waist, while she nuzzled into my shoulder, her arms wrapped around my neck.

"I decree this to be our song," She said, smiling. "This means whenever it's being played, we dance to it."

"You can be so crazy sometimes," I mocked her. "But you're worth it."

She giggled softly, holding me closer while pressing our bodies more together. _Now this was definitely dancing_, I thought with a smile on my face. Everything was just so perfect, amazing. I twirled her around until I finally pulled her back to me, swaying with her through the music, and finally dipped her backwards. She giggled, slowly pulling herself back up to me. I then lifted her up-bridal style- in my arms and spun her around and around, her laughter echoing in the room along with my own. After spinning for over two minutes, I was getting beyond dizzy and we collapse on the sofa bed.

For a moment we were silent, taking a few moments to catch our breath. We then turned to each other, and suddenly burst into uncontrollable laughter; laughing so hard tears were coming from our eyes.

I wiped the laughing tears from my eyes, my stomach hurting from all that laughing. I reached out for her hand, and gazed into her beautiful dark eyes. All I could think about was how beautiful she looked, how her eyes were so lovely, how her mouth looked so sweet. And how she was mine as I hers.

"Zane…" Victoria turned to me, and then we were kissing, kissing each other hotly with so much passion. Sparks flew like fireworks and angels sang. Her arms slide around my neck, pulling me closer to her, and I clutched to her waist and pulled her on top of me as I laid back in the sofa bed.

The sound of the music was ringing softly in my ears and the fireplace warming up the entire room, along with our passion for each other. My heart was galloping as I tangled my hands in Victoria's silkily hair and deepened our kiss. I felt her hands crawling under my shirt, and slowly pulling it over my head. I pulled back for a moment to help her take my shirts off. She tossed them carelessly on the ground, and then our lips met again in another passionate, lovingly yet hungrily kiss that quickly turned more intense with great desperation and hunger.

Victoria played with the zipper of my pants and very slowly pulled it down. I was shaking with nervousness and anticipation, as I quickly slide down my pants and tossing them to the ground. I slowly unzipped her dress, and slide it down with ease as I kissed her neck and her collarbone.

When I quickly glanced at her, my heart was caught in my throat. Her dress was now on the ground, and she was clad in only a dark purple Victoria's Secret bra with black lace trim and matching very short boy shorts, looking so innocently beautiful and dangerously hot that my eyes and heart was practically melting from the sight.

I pounced on her, hovering over her as she laid flat on the sofa bed. Both of us kissing each other passionately and desperately, as we were clad in only our underwear now. As our lips moved together in a furious dance, my hands were busy caressing and touching and feeling as much of her body as possible.

"Should we stop?" I asked her, not wanting to force her into doing something she didn't want to do.

"No," She half whispered-slash-half moaned. "I don't want to stop."

I pulled down the straps of her bra, kissing the curves of her delicious visible breasts, and slowly unhooked the clasp of her bra, letting the bra slipped down to the ground and setting her breasts free. Her breasts were a perfect size, in a perfect 48 C-cup, and so full and round. My hand ran over her ribcage and gently gripped her breast and started to knead it as my mouth left open-mouthed kisses and found its way to the right one. She gasped and softly moaned as I began to suck and tease it with my tongue, arching her back off the bed, running her hand through my hair to pull me closer. Once I was done the right one, I accompanied the left one with the same attention.

Her breasts tasted so delicious, just like the rest of her.

"Zane," She moaned, making my heart beat wildly for her.

She cupped my face and brought our lips together into an earth-scattering kiss.

There was a quiet _click_ and the air seemed to be getting colder. But still we didn't stop; we were too busy kissing and being lost in our own little world, ready to take the next step in our relationship.

Victoria then suddenly pulled back. "Zane," She hissed; her eyes wide with fear as she quickly covering her chest with her crossed arms and stared at the doorway.

I turned to the doorway, and then my eyes grew wide when I saw who was there.

Standing at the doorway of Victoria's room, was Carlisle, Alice, and Jasper. They stood in stunned silence, their eyes wide with shock.

"OH," Carlisle began.

"MY." Alice said next.

"GOD!" Jasper finished their sentence.

They were speechless, taking in the sight of me and Victoria on the bed, half-naked being clad in our underwear, with the rest of our clothes on the ground. Victoria pushed me off her and quickly scrambled on her feet to get our clothes. But she and I both know that they seen and knew what was about to happen.

"We….you…Oh my god." said Alice, who usually had plenty to say, but was too shocked to even think straight.

"We're… just going to wait for you out here." Carlisle managed to say though his shock as he quickly closed the door to give us a few minutes to get dressed.

Talk about embarrassing.


	11. Chapter 11

I was blushing bright red as I quickly grabbed my clothes and redressed, slipping on my shoes and quickly retying them. I helped Victoria re-zip her dress, and she quickly straightened herself up, fixing her hair and refreshing her makeup. Doing all this without looking me in the eyes.

I only guessed that she was just as embarrassed as I was, either embarrassed or mad. I mean, who wouldn't be? You're alone in your room with the person you love and you're about to make love, but then your family suddenly walks in, seeing everything that was going on.

"Ready?" I asked her.

She nodded, and then checked the time on her clock. "It's getting late. We should probably get you home."

Without waiting for my reply, she opened the doors to her balcony, and jumped off the patio, landing perfectly on her feet like she was a cat. She then started to walk away, without waiting for me.

I then realized she obviously wanted me to follow her, so I followed her example by going out to the balcony and jumping off the patio. But unlike Victoria, I didn't land smoothly on my feet and instead fell flat on my butt. I groaned as I sat up straight in the grass, and felt liquid on my leg, that was dripping the right leg side of my pants. I rolled up my pants and saw my knee was badly scarped, with blood pooling the wound.

I tried to quickly wipe the wound, worrying about Victoria seeing the blood and how she was going to control herself.

Victoria, who was still walking, reached the trees that were thirty-seven feet away from me, and then turned slightly to me, eyeing the blood dripping from my wound.

In a blink of an eye, she was suddenly in front of me. Her eyes narrowed as she kneeled down in front of me, and gently touched the scar of my knee. Her expression didn't give away an emotion, but her eyes showed thirst and struggle as she eyed the blood dripping from my wound. She took a long, deep breath to calm herself and ripped a cloth of her dress and used it to press against the wound, making the bleeding stop. Then ripped another cloth of her dress and wrapped it around my knee, like a bandage, tying it tightly and securely.

"You're just a magnet for trouble and accidents, aren't you?" She said, helping me up. I almost expected her to laugh, thinking she was joking, but as I saw her unreadable expression and firm eyes, I knew she wasn't.

Before I could make a remark, she turned her head away from me and to the trees, staring at them critically. "What are you thinking?" I asked her.

"Something just occurred to me," She said, turning back to me. "You're already late enough as it is, and it would take another hour or two to get by your house by car."

"So, what do we do then?" I asked. "Walk?"

She gave me a look that clearly said I saw crazy. "No," She said, very slowly, empathizing the 'o' for a long time. She bit her lip and tapped her foot as she was thinking about something later.

Finally seconds later that seemed like forever, a grin splashed on her face as the idea finally came to her. "I'll show you how I travel from place to place often. It way faster than driving, and will get us to your house in no time."

"What, are you going to turn into a bat?"

She tried to keep her face firm and tough, but her lips gave her away as they twitched into a smile. She then laughed hard. "Right, like I haven't heard that before."

She then kneeled down in front of me, standing on one knee, with her back to me. "Got onto my back."

"Say what?" I asked. I waited to see if she was kidding, just messing up with again to get another laugh, but apparently she meant it. She turned around to me and grinned, understanding my hesitation and reached for me. I was still and limp as a puppet, letting her control me. My heart reacted quickly and loudly. She then preceded me to sling onto her back, with little effort on my part, and when in place, clamped my legs and arms around her neck so tightly that it would choke a normal person. Clinging onto Victoria was like clinging onto stone that was soft and smooth yet cold and cold.

She grabbed my hand and pressed her cheek against my palm, kissing it before letting it go.

She then started running.

If I ever fear anything in life, none of them could compare to how I felt now.

She streaked through the dark, thick underbrush like a bullet, like a ghost. There was no sound, no evidence that her feet ever touched the ground. Her breathing never changed, never indicated any effort. But the trees flew by at deadly speeds, always missing us by inches.

I was too shocked, too stun and terrified to even close my eyes, though the cool forest thick air whipped against my face and burned them. I felt as if I was being piggy-banked by a tiger through the eye of a huge tornado, riding a rollercoaster so fast and high that it reached it way to the moon, or stupidly sticking my head out the plane as it took flight. And for the first time in m life, I felt the dizzy faintness and motion sickness.

Then it was over. We rode over an over to reach Victoria's mansion of a house, and now, in less than five or six minutes we were standing in front of my house.

Victoria, who easily knew how dizzy and sick I felt, grabbed my keys from my pants' pocket and unlocked the door, shutting and locking it behind her and then piggy-backed me all the way upstairs to my room.

I thanked the Great Lord that Eliza wasn't there and saw this; otherwise she'd never live this moment down.

Victoria gently unloosened my strangle-hold on her, and laid me gently on the bed. She sat besides me on the bed, and laid my head on her lap and gently stroked my hair, caring and cradling me like I was a small child.

"How do you feel?" She asked me.

I couldn't be sure how I was feeling. My head was spinning too crazily for me to even think, and my stomach felt too nausea for me to even handle. "Dizzy. Sick, I think."

"Try taking deep breaths."

I tried that, and it only helped a little. The moments passed, and eventually I was able to lift my head up a bit. There was a hollowing sound ringing loudly in my ear.

"I guess that wasn't the best idea." She mused.

I tried to be positive, but my voice and brain were too weak from the exhaustion of the experience to even function. "No, it was very… interesting."

"Hah!" She let out both a fake and real laugh. "You're as white as a ghost-no, actually as white as me."

"I guess I should have closed my eyes,"

"Remember that next time."

"Next time." I groaned.

"Don't be such a baby," She giggled softly. "Now slowly open your eyes, Zane."

I slowly opened my eyes. She was right there, her face close to mine. Her beauty stunned my mind-it was too much for me and my dizzily mind to process, an excess I couldn't grown accustomed to.

"Oh, you poor little baby," She softly smiled, teasing me with her lips as she gently brushed them against my face, her cool breath practically tickling me and made my heart jump. She ran her hand through my hair, slowly trailing down to my cheek and caressing it. "I'm going to go make you so tea."

She dedicatedly moved my head onto the pillow, pecked my cheek, and exited my room, going downstairs.

Feeling another powerfully dizzily, aching throb on my head, I groaned again. I now knew how alcoholics and addicts felt when, as soon the high buzz feeling was over, they feel horrible and trashy as soon as the hangover kicks in, feeling like crap. I didn't drink anything, expect for the Spanish wine I had at the Rains', and my head was throbbing like I had twenty drinks.

I took a deep breath, trying to block out the ringing hollow in my ears. "I swear to God if I ever let that girl talk me into the flash-speed ride again, someone please frigging crucify me and kick me hard in the fucking ass." I groaned as I rubbed my aching head.

Minutes later, Victoria came back to my room and was carrying a tray that contained a pot of steaming hot tea that smelt sweet, two handle-less tea cups, and a piece of the homemade chocolate cake my mom made a few nights ago. She placed the tray on my study desk that was covered with papers, pens and pencils, and some other junk, and poured me a cup of the tea.

She blew into the cup to cool it down, the steam hitting her cheeks. She then handed it to me and placed the chocolate cake next to me, on the nightstand. I took a sip of the hot tea, tasting and was shocked by its sweetness. The tea, at least, helped my head and cleared it up a bit.

"It's sweet." I told her.

"It's Oolong. Tea sweetened with honey. And I'm very glad you like it." She said, pouring herself a cup of the sweetened tea and taking a sip.

Feeling better little by little, I was able to sit up in my bed, and ate some my cake while having some more of the tea. Victoria sat at my computer seat, spinning around and around in it while taking glances around my room and looking at me, taking sips of her tea. She then stopped spinning in her chair.

"How are you feeling?" She asked.

"Thanks to your tea, I'm starting to feel less dizzy." I told her, putting the now empty cup and plate on my nightstand.

"My poor little baby," She pouted, placing her tea on the table and walking over to me. She sat on the bed with me, and was stroking my hair. She touched me plenty of times before, and yet my heart still jumped and pounded every single time she touched, pounding so loudly I bet even the entire neighborhood can hear it.

I took deep breaths trying to calm my very loudly beating heart. She gazed at me and I gazed back at her. Again I couldn't take my eyes away from her. Her midnight black hair was shimmering in a silvery color in the moonlight; her skin faintly glowing; the scent of the rain and cinnamon with a hint vanilla in her hair; and how her mouth looked so sweet, so delicious.

Before I even knew it, we were kissing again, kissing deeply and passionately and hungrily. And were soon stripping each other of our clothes. We kissed and made out in my bed for God knows how long, kissing each other heatedly and passionately in our underwear with me in my boxers and Victoria in her bra and boy-shorts. The strange was her skin was actually starting to feel warmer and softer. I only guessed that was from our kisses that were getting more hot and intense, making her hot just like it was doing to me.

I turned us over, so that now I was the one straddling, and she laid flat on my bed. Our kisses were sloppy wet, desperate, and filled with needing-and I loved every second of it, feeling like I was heaven.

As I tangled my hands in her inky silk hair while our kisses became hungrier and deep, the bulge in my boxers was getting bigger and bigger, my cock begging for her.

My lips trailed down to her neck and kissed it over and over, my ears enjoying the sound of her soft moans.

"Zane," She moaned softly.

My desire for her enslaved me, growing more and more powerful as fire while my lips reached her lips and pressed them together again. Victoria brought my right hand to the back of her bra, using my hand to gently rub it. I know what she wanted me to do, and I was happily to oblige. I kissed her harder and with so much passion, as I unhooked each hook of her bra slowly with anticipation.

Victoria was just as impatient and anticipated as me. She pushed me down backwards onto my elbows, with her now straddling. Her chest was finally bare and bra-free, with her bra on the ground with the rest of our clothes. I couldn't stop staring at her beautiful, perfect cleavage. I couldn't stop myself from sucking her sweet, dark nipples, which were surprisingly soft and warm.

Her hands were on my chest, her delicate fingers going unerringly to my nipples and sending an icy-hot spike of need straight to my cock. My hips bucked and my buttocks clenched, echoing the throbbing desire of my penis to impale and thrust.

Fire ran through the inside of my body as I moaned and felt her cool tongue licking my nipples long and hard, her mouth leaving butterfly kisses on my sweaty chest as they trailed down to my boxers, that were practically being blown up by my big bulge.

"Oh God, Victoria." I grunted, feeling her hands slowly pulling down my boxers, setting my penis free. This was the moment of truth, this was the moment when Victoria and I finally make love and gave ourselves completely to each other. I was nervous, excited, but more than anything, ready.

Victoria and I gazed deeply into each other's eyes. This was definitely it. We kissed again; the kiss was slow and soft yet hard and deep and filled with both love and passion the most we could muster up.

"Zane, honey, I'm home!!!" The loud sound of Eliza's voice downstairs caused me and Victoria to stop in our tracks, totally killing the moment.

"Shit!" I hissed in frustrated. First in Victoria's room, now here. Is it too much to ask that fucking fate let me make love to my woman. Is that really too much to fucking ask?

Victoria slowly pulled her lips away from mine and got off me, and just sat on my bed. I looked at her, also seeing the disappointment in her eyes that showed she was also frustrated that each time we tried to do it, someone or someone interrupts us. I slowly wrapped my arms around her, and laid her head on my chest. I stroked her hair, my hand trailing down to my cheek and caressing it. "I probably should go," She said, getting off me and redressing herself.

I grabbed her hand, not wanting her to leave. I wanted her to stay here. She brushed her lips against mine, just once. Maybe she meant for us to stop there, but I didn't. I ignored the annoying sound of my mom's voice calling me and only focused on Victoria, on the rain and cinnamon and vanilla scent of her black hair, the way we breathed together when we kissed, like we were two parts of the same person. I kissed her harder.

Victoria then slowly pulled back from the kiss, but her hands were still wrapped around my neck. "Not now, not here. Maybe at a different place, where we can completely be alone."

I silenced her with another kiss, deep and passionate enough to say yes. Victoria returned the kiss and held me tight, not too tight to hurt me, but tightly secure. I nuzzled into her soft dark hair and slowly closed my eyes, wrapping my arms around her waist.

God, I love her. I never wanted this moment to end. I wanted to be like this, with me holding her tightly in my arms.

I then slowly opened my eyes.

She was gone.

I took deep breaths to calm myself and to calm my loud beating heart, but that seemed mission impossible.

I lay in bed that night, thinking about the possibilities of me and Victoria finally doing it, making love, and how I want to make it special for her. Perfect, actually. Slowly, I closed my eyes and my dreams started playing in my head.

Four days have passed after that, and I haven't seen or heard from Victoria since. To say I was worried would be an understatement. I was completely freaking out! It might sound silly, since she's a vampire with fighting skills and can handle herself, but still I couldn't help worrying about where and how she was. I love and care for the girl. What you do expect?

I called her phone at least a hundred times, but still all I got was the voice message. "Hi you've reached Victoria. Leave a message, and I'll call you back as soon as I can." The voice mail said, and then beeped. I was sure I left her over thirty messages.

The next morning was surprisingly bright, with the sun finally shining. I was deeply asleep in my bed, but was awakened by the bright sunlight that ruined the amazing dream I was having about Victoria. I grunted, covering my head with the pillow, and moving away from the sunlight to get some more damn sleep.

Finally surrendering to the damn bright sun, I groaned and slowly opened my eyes. I looked at the alarm clock, my eyes popping wide with shock.

"SHIT!!!!!!!!!" I cussed loudly, nearly screaming, as I scrambled to my feet. It was almost ten, and I was already late for school. What happened to my fucking, damn alarm clock? Why didn't my mom wake up me? With time against me, I was multi-tasking: jogging brushing my teeth and combing my mess of brown hair.

I finally spit my toothpaste out onto the bathroom sink, and gurgled some mouthwash, also spitting it out after rinsing my mouth with it for over two minutes. I quickly went through my closet, throwing some clean clothes. Then finally headed downstairs, with my backpack filled with heavy textbooks strapped onto my back, and my black hoodie sweatshirt held in my hand.

"Thanks for waking me up, Mom." I sarcastically called out to Eliza, who was in the living room, as I was about to walk out the door.

But something was wrong, I could feel it.

I slowly put down my backpack and jacket on the floor and walked into the living room. Channel 7 news was showing on the TV screen, reporting breaking news, but the sound was muted. Seated on the couch was my mom, still dressed in her nightgown and her hair in a messy bun. The tension was, for some reason, chilled ice. My mom was shaking and hugging herself tightly, looking like she was trying to hold herself together. Her face was flushed white.

"Mom? Mom, are you okay?" I asked, putting my hand on her shoulder, shaking her to snap her out of it.

She slowly placed her hand over mine and held it tightly, nearly squeezing. She turned her head slightly to me, her blue eyes darkened with huge amounts of worry and fear. "There was an accident," She murmured, her voice hollowed with fear. "At your school."

Jolts of shock run through my body, kicking my insides hard. I stood still in stunned silence, shock written all over my face and widening my eyes.

Eliza took in the shocked expression on my face, and nodded only once, meaning to tell me that it was true. "It's everywhere on the morning news, and even made today's headline of the newspaper. They found Douglas Manson, Andrew Barks, Lassie Laurens, and Stephanie Donaldson. Their bodies were found in the woods two miles from the school; all their bodies were completely drained of blood with some of their limbs splattered practically everywhere."

Douglas Manson, Andrew Barks, Lassie Laurens, and Stephanie Donaldson. Douglas was an asshole football player, Andrew was an average Goth guy who was king of his Goth group, and Lassie and Laurens were blonde and brunette junior cheerleaders, who were nice but acted pretty slutty. I wasn't great friends with them, but still it was pretty shocking to know that they were dead.

"What happened to them?" I asked my voice low and dry from the shock I was still trying to take in.

"They were murmured. Slaughtered by that damn wild animal." Eliza said, her voice cracked up as she began to cry, crying for worry, crying for fear, and crying for my classmates whose lives were taken.

Slaughtered? By an animal? They may have been murdered, but there was no way it could have been done by a wild animal, since there are no animals here at all.

But I knew just the person who knows about this. I reached into my pocket and took out my phone. I silently prayed to God that she would pick up her damn phone as I dialed her number and hit Talk.

"Yes?" She answered instantly, as if she knew I was calling.

"Who did this?" I asked her.

She sighed, knowing what I meant. "I'll explain soon. I'll be at your house in the next five minutes."

"Okay," I agreed, and then hanged up my phone.

I looked at Eliza, who was still crying her eyes out, and knew there was nothing I could to comfort at this time. So I decided to leave her alone for awhile. I grabbed my stuff and went upstairs to my room.

But as I opened my door, my eyes widened so hugely big.

My room was trashed-even more trashy than I left it. Papers and clothes tossed and scattered all over the place, my bed was ruined with my pillows and bed sheets ripped, and I could see some of my clothes were missing.

"Oh my Great God?" I exclaimed, taking in the sight of my trashed-up room. "What the fuck happened?"

"Someone was in here."


	12. Chapter 12

Victoria pushed me out the way, and walked inside my trashed-disaster room to take a better look. She slowly took off her dark black shades, her dark eyes scanned around the entire place, narrowing as she inhaled deeply.

"Who did this?" I repeated louder. I needed to know. Was it some robber who decided to do a break-in in the morning or some kind of hoax from school? But soon I realized it wasn't. For one thing, my computer was still here and my wallet filled with money remained untouched. The only things that were stolen were some t-shirts and a few jeans and socks, and also my one of the sketchbooks-a dark blue one- that was filled with my drawings of Victoria.

Then the answer hit me, hard in my head, nearly punching it. I took a look around my room, taking calm breaths to control myself from panicking. Taking baby steps toward her, I slowly placed my hand on Victoria's shoulder.

Victoria stood still while staring straight ahead, her face and eyes revealing no emotion, not giving me a hint to what she was thinking.

"We need to leave. _**Now!**_" She exclaimed. She put back on her black sunglasses and,__without waiting for my answer, grabbed my hand and quickly walked down the stairs. I was stumbling while trying to keep up with her. Eliza was too busy with her crying to even notice us as we ran out the door and got into Victoria's SUV.

She started the engine and drove, driving so fast everything we passed flashed like lightening. I held onto my seatbelt, practically fearing for my life as I felt like I was in a speed rider's car with Speed Racer driving; expect my speed racer was a breathtaking ravenette beauty whose eyes were only focused on the road as she rode faster and faster, going probably over 100 mph. Dressed in jeans and a dark blue hoodie sweatshirt that both covered her head and her raven-like hair, Victoria's skin was protected from the bright sun.

When she parked her car in the woods near her house, Victoria opened the door for herself, getting out of the car, and opening my door, pulling me out.

Pulling me onto her back and holding me tightly so I wouldn't fall, she ran her unbelievably, impossible speed. Again, she streaked through the dark, thick underbrush like a bullet.

Finally it ended. She slowly dropped me onto my feet and started to walk toward her house that was standing right in front of us. I took a short moment to catch my breath before I stopped her by grabbing her arm. "You want to tell me what the fuck is going on?!"

All I got was silence from her. She only looked into my eyes with that unreadable expression on her face. She knew something, something that has to do with the murders by the '_wild animal_' and the person who destroyed my room, but refused to tell me. I scowled at her as I grabbed her shoulders, pulled her even closer to me and pulled up her sunglasses to reveal her eyes, and looked long and hard into her emotionless yet glorious dark eyes, trying to figure out what she was thinking.

"Vampires." I surprised myself of how causal I said it, as if I was only talking about the weather, instead of killers who were after me. "They're the ones, who killed those guys from our school, aren't they? And now one of them is after me?" I said, figuring it out for myself and saying the answer out loud.

After looking at me for what felt like a century, Victoria finally nodded.

I closed my eyes, needing a moment for myself and took a calming, deep breath.

"I had a vision," She murmured. "Last night, while my family and I were away hunting and trying to track down the other clan. My vision was about you."

Victoria was a death-physic, who only has visions about deaths. So if she had a vision about me and a vampire is coming after me, then that means…

Before I could even finish my thoughts, Victoria was running toward her house. And this time I was following.

The rest of the Rains were already in the living room, waiting for us as if they knew we were coming. Several eyes quickly flickered my way, and I then knew they also knew what was going on.

"How much time do we have?" Carlisle said.

"Not enough. Some of his items were stolen, a classical way of a vampire stalker saying he's ready to attack," Victoria said.

"Hold on now," I was still the only one who was confused about the whole thing. I mean I know other vampires after me, but my question was why? Out of all the people in fucking Albuquerque, why did they pick me? But because he's after me, does that mean he might also hurt Victoria?

My heart hardens with worry and protective, screaming that I'll kill the bum myself if they lay a finger on her.

"My only guesses are either he saw you and me together and suspected something or tracked you down at the school." Victoria said.

"So he's the one who killed the others at school?" I asked.

"Yes," Carlisle nodded, lost in his thoughts as he looked distant with unreadable expression on his face, his dark gold eyes looking troubled. I could tell he felt sorry for my dead classmates who were slaughtered by those vampires, the ones who Carlisle himself hates and never wants himself or his family to become like. "He did a pretty sloppy job, but was able to cover his tracks."

"Then we must destroy him!" Jasper exclaimed, looking at every one of us. "He's a danger to Albuquerque, and is a threat to us, also. He could easily expose us all."

"And I thought that was the nuisance asshole's job." Rosalina muttered under her breath, her eyes glaring ice cold murderous anger at me, showing me all the dark anger inside her.

"We're wasting time just standing around here. We have to move now," Victoria said, taking charge. She turned to me. "Zane, you have to go. Somewhere far, far away from here."

I immediately thought of my mom, and me leaving her with a vampire stalker possibly still at my house, who could possibly without doubt hurt her, or even kill her. I shook my head, causing Victoria's scowl to deepen with her eyes darkening in frustrated anger and impatience. I tried to explain my reasons, while holding up my hands to calm her down, saying "What about Eliza? For God's sake, she's my mom! I can't leave her alone with that bastard stalker possibly still around my house."

"I assure you, Zane, we'll do everything we can to make sure your mother is safe. But the only way she'll be safe is if you leave." Eliza calmly assured me, patting my shoulder in mother-like gesture.

I realized she was right. Victoria held my hand as she looked into my eyes, also silently telling it was best if I go. I knew it would crush Eliza's heart if I leave her, but still it has to be done. For the sake of her safety and apparently mine.

*********************************************************

Victoria pulled the SUV up slowly, staying well back from my truck. She, Jasper, and Elliot were acutely alert, ramrod straight in their seats, listening to every sound surrounding us, looking at every place a stalker would hide, catching every scent. The engine was cut off, and I sat motionless, as they continued to talk.

Time really did go by, it was already dark outside. It was late nighttime, probably after ten. But time meant little to me, as I just stood still in my seat, listening to Victoria as she talked with her brothers.

Victoria inhaled deeply, and I knew she was trying to track down his scent, to see if he was here. Finally she let out her breath and turned to me. "He's not here," She said tensely "Let's go."

"Elliot, Jasper," Her voice hardening to a command. They nodded back to her and slithered soundlessly into the darkness, instantly disappearing. Victoria opened the car door for me and took my hand. She walked swiftly toward the house, her eyes roving through the night.

"Fifteen minutes." She warned under her breath.

"I can do this." I tried to convince myself, expect my brain was screaming it was pointless.

I stopped on the porch and gently cupped her face in my hands, gently stroking her hair away from her eyes and caressing her cheeks. I looked her fiercely in the eyes.

"I love you," I said in a low, very intense voice, meaning each word with all of my heart. "I will always love you, Victoria, no matter what happens."

"Nothing is going to happen to you, Zane." Her voice matched the same fierceness.

"Just please promise you'll keep Eliza safe for me. I know she's going to blow up after this, so I have to apologize later."

"Get inside, Zane. We have to hurry." said Victoria, her voice was urgent.

"One more thing," I quickly added. "Don't listen and believe another word I'm going to say when I get inside." The intensity in my eyes met with her passionate dark eyes. She was leaning in for a kiss, and I bent down to kiss her sweet lips, taking a short moment tasting her sweetness, our tongues meeting briefly and gently brushing against each other. Then I turned and kicked the door open with all the strength I put into that kick, nearly breaking the door hence.

"Go the fuck away, Victoria!" I yelled at her, running inside and slamming the door shut at her fake-shocked face, which was really convincing.

"Zane?" Eliza emerged from the kitchen, wiping her hands with her apron after possibly cooking all day.

"Leave me alone!" I screamed at her. I ran up the stairs to my room, throwing and locking the door shut. I ran to my bed, flinging myself on the floor to retrieve my duffle bag. I reached swiftly between the mattress and box spring to grab the old knotted sock that contained my emergency money stash.

Eliza was knocking hard and pounding on my door.

"Zane, are you okay? What's going on?" She sounded frightened.

"I'm going _home_," I screamed, my voice breaking in the perfect spot.

I turned to my dresser, and Victoria was already there, silently yanking out armfuls of random clothes, and tossed to me to pack.

"What happened? Did she break up with you?" Eliza questioned.

"NO!" I shouted, slightly breathless as I quickly shoved everything into the bag. Victoria finally packed for me another dresser's contents, making the bag pretty much heavy and fill.

"What happened, Zane?" Eliza shouted through the door, pounding again.

"I broke up with _her_!" I shouted back, jerking up the zipper of my bag but the fucking-damn zipper refused to cooperate. Running out of patience, Victoria pushed my hands aside and, with her capable hands, zipped it up smoothly.

"I'll be in the truck-go!" she whispered, and pushed me toward the door. She vanished out the window.

I grabbed the heavy duffle bag that was over-packed with my clothes and unlocked the door, roughly pushing my mom away while struggling with the heavy bag as I ran down the stairs.

"What happened?" Eliza yelled, not giving up. She was right behind me; quickly speeding up to catch me. "I thought you liked her."

She caught my elbow in the kitchen. Though she was bewildered, her grip was surprisingly firm and strong.

"I do like her- and that's the fucking problem right there. I don't want things to get too wild and the next thing I knew I'm stuck in a stupid, boring town like Dad! I'm not going to make the same dumbass mistake he did. I fucking hate it- I can't stay here another damn minute!"

Her hand dropped from my arm like I electrocuted her. I turned away from her shocked, wounded face and headed for the door.

"Zane, you can't leave. It's nighttime." She murmured behind me, her words small and sounded badly hurt by my words.

"I'll sleep in my truck if I get tired." I didn't turn around.

I knew I was hurting my mom very badly by doing this, but had to remind myself over and over about the more time I was waste arguing with her, the more danger she was in. I was going to have to hurt her further.

"I'm going to NYC to visit Carly, she invited me over," I explained, turning the knob. She was too close. One hand extended to mine, her face dazed.

"Just let me go, Eliza," I repeated the same last words my dad said as he walked out this very door so many years ago, saying the same words that caused so many tears to fall from my mom's eyes and her heart to painfully mangle and shred into a million pieces. I felt a flash of déjà vu, but remained focused and firm. I said Mike's last words to Eliza as angrily as I could, and I threw the door open. "It was just a mistake. A very stupid, dumbass mistake that didn't work out, okay? I really, really can't stand this goddamn forsaken place! And really, really fucking _**hate**_ fucking Albuquerque!!!!!!!"

My cruel words did the trick. Eliza stayed frozen on the doorstep, stunned with unshed tears darkened her eyes as she watched me run wildly for the truck while I was visualizing a dark shadow behind me as I ran, probably smiling in dark evil amusement. I threw my stuff in the backseat and got into the truck. The key was already in the ignition, waiting to be turned and to drive.

"I'll call you soon, I promise." I yelled to her, wishing I could just explain everything to her right then, but knew I would never be able to. I started the engine and just drove; driving without looking back, without looking at my mom's saddened face and tears falling from her eyes.

Victoria, who was already in the tuck and was seated in the passenger's seat, switched places with me. Pulling my hands and foot away from the steering wheel and gas pedal, she easily slides through and was now the one driving room. The car surprisingly didn't swerve.

"You wouldn't be able to find the place." She explained.

Lights flared suddenly behind us. I stared out the back window, eyes widening with horror.

"It's only Jasper." She assured me. She took my hand and gently stroked it, trying to calm my nerves down.

My mind was filled with the image of Eliza in the doorway. "The stalker?"

"Heard the end of your very convincing performance." Victoria said grimly.

"Eliza?" I said in dread.

"The tracker followed us, and is now running behind."

My body completely went cold, my heart missing over three beats.

"Can we outrun him?"

"No." But she tried to speed up, and the truck's engine whined in protest.

I was staring back at Jasper's headlights when the truck shuddered and a dark shadow sprung up outside the window.

My bloodcurdling scream only lasted one-fraction of a second before Victoria's hand was pressed against my mouth, shutting me up.

"It's alright, Zane. It's only Elliot."

She released my mouth, and her hand went back to holding my hand.

We raced through the quiet town toward the north highway.

"I wasn't being nice, or fair at all," I confessed, as the image of the pained look on my mom's face showed repeatedly in my head, my conscious refusing to let me forget about it. "Those were the exact same words my dad said to her before he left. You should have seen her face. I felt like such a bastard."

"Don't worry. I know she'll forgive me." She smiled a little, but it didn't reach her eyes.

I stared at her desperately, and she saw the naked panic in my eyes.

"Zane, it's going to be okay."

"How the hell can you say it's going to be okay when I'm not going to be with you?" I quietly argued.

"We'll be together soon in a few days." She said, her hand gently caressing mine in an attempt to comfort me. "And don't forget it was _your_ idea."

_Of course_, I thought with a roll of my eyes as I silently cussed myself for being a dumbass. Earlier at the Rains' house, I suggested a plan that Victoria stays here with her family to hopefully catch the tracker and also so Eliza doesn't see she's also gone and assumes that we ran away together. We planned for me to go straight to LA, but thought that's probably the first place the tracker would find me, so, since I remembered my stepsister telling me if I ever wanted to visit just to drop in anytime, we decided to head to New York City first. Then as I soon as I got off an airport in California, Victoria will already be waiting for me.

I knew the plan seemed good, but still I couldn't stop worrying about Victoria, about what the tracker might do to her if she meets with him face-to-face.

"Just please answer me one question. Out of all the people in Albuquerque, why did he decide to hunt me down?"

"Because of me, because of me being around near you. He knows us vampires often don't associate ourselves with humans. When he and his clan headed here, he saw us together. And seeing how affectionate we were toward each other, he saw that forbidden affair as a perfect play game. We now presented him with a beautiful challenge- a large clan of strong fighters protecting a vulnerable element. You wouldn't believe how much he's enjoying all this right now. It's now his favorite game, and we've just made it his most exciting game ever." Her tone filled with disgust.

I gulped in a huge lump that was forming; my throat was suddenly dry as I shuddered.

"I don't have any other choice expect to kill him," She muttered. "Carlisle won't like it though."

"How do you kill a vampire?"

She glanced at me with unreadable eyes and her voice was suddenly harsh. "You must tear the body to shreds and then burn the pieces. That's the only way to destroy them."

"Are there others with him?" I asked. "You know others from his clan?"

She nodded. "They're two others, a man and a woman, who's apparently the tracker's soul mate. The woman will help him while the man decided not to play in this game and move on with another clan."

"But the tracker and that woman-they'll try to kill you!?" I exclaimed, my voice raw with worry and angry, screaming in outrage protest inside my head of the thought of her also getting hurt, too.

"Zane, don't you dare worry about me. Your only concern is to keep yourself safe- and please, please, in the name of God, trying not to be reckless."

We drove right up to the house. The lights were bright, but they did little help to alleviate the blackness of the encroaching forest.

We all walked inside the house, where the rest of the Rains were silently waiting for us. Silence lasted less than a second.

"How close?" Carlisle looked at Victoria.

"About three miles out past the river. He's circling around to meet up with the female."

"What's the plan?"

"We'll lead him off, and then Jasper and Alice will run her south."

"And then?"

Victoria's tone was deadly, her sudden cold eyes narrowing. "As soon as Zane is clear, we hunt him."

"I guess there's no other choice," Carlisle agreed, his face grim.

Victoria then turned to look at me quickly before turning back to her adopted father, and said calmly "Trade clothes with him."

"Of course." He nodded.

Carlisle was at my side in half a heartbeat, swinging me easily onto his back, and dashing up the stairs before I could gasp in shock.

"What are we doing?" I asked breathlessly as he set me in a dark room somewhere off the second-story hall.

"Trying to confuse the smell. It won't last long, but it might help you out." I could hear his clothes falling to the ground.

"I don't think I'll fit…" I hesitated, but his quick hands were already pulling my shirt over my head. I quickly stripped off my jeans. He handed something that felt like a shirt. I struggled to get my arms through the right holes. As soon as I was done, he handed me his pants. I yanked them on, but couldn't get my feet out; they were too long. He deftly rolled them up so I could stand up. Somehow he was already in my clothes. He pulled me back to the stairs where Alice stood, a small leather bag in one hand. They each grabbed one of my elbows and half-carried me as they flew down the stairs.

Everything apparently was already set up. Victoria and Elliot, who was carrying a heavy-looking bag over his shoulder, were ready to leave. Emma handed something to Carlisle. And then turned and handed the same thing to Alice- it was a tiny silver cell phone.

"I, Rosalina, and Emma will be taking your truck, Zane," He told me. I nodded, glancing warily at Rosalina. She was glowering at Carlisle with a resentful expression.

"Alice, Jasper- take the Mercedes. You'll need the dark tint in the south."

They nodded as well.

"Victoria, Elliot, you're taking the Jeep."

"Alice," Carlisle asked "will they take the bait?"

Everyone watched Alice as she closed her eyes and became incredibly still.

Finally her eyes opened. "He'll track you. The woman will follow the truck. We should be able to leave after that." Her voice was certain.

"Let's go." Carlisle began to walk toward the kitchen.

Elliot and Victoria were following his lead, but I stopped her before she could take another step. She turned back to me, urgent impatience darkening her eyes.

"Let me go, Zane." She commanded softly.

I shook my head, holding her arms tightly with as much force I could muster up in my hands. "No, I can't leave without knowing you'll be alright, too. You jump, I jump."

"Stop being stubborn."

"Stop being unreasonable."

She scowled of impatience, but I could also see in her eyes that she was also worried, too. She then did something that caught me off guard- she swiftly pressed her lips against mine and kissed me hard and deeply with lots of passion in the kiss along with deep desperation and hungrily needing and wanting. But the way she kissed me, it was like she was saying goodbye to me, forever. I, who was a great weakling when it came to her kisses, wrapped my arms around her waist and brought her closer to me, kissing her back with as much deep passion and hunger as I could muster up. We held each other close and tight, her arms wrapped around my neck and my arms around her waist, as our kisses deepened and were more passionate. We unaware of the family's stunned stares and Rosalina's look of disgust as we only focused on kissing each other, like we were saying our final goodbye.

"It's time to go to sleep." She murmured, brushing her lips against mine. She slowly detached her lips from mine, our forehead pressed against each other. She looked deeply into my eyes, opened her mouth, and started to sing her siren song, my lullaby.

I tried hard to fight it, to stay awake. But the siren song was much stronger, easily winning. My body felt drained of its energy, and my eyes felt droopy, begging to be closed. I then blacked out.

"Please be safe. I love you." The last words she said to me softly as she brushed her lips against mine only once, and was gone.

***************************

"Victoria." I grunted. My eyes burned as I slowly opened them, my body felt stiff as I lay in bed in a very uncomfortable position.

My thoughts were hazy, still twisted up in dreams and nightmares; it took me longer than it should have been to realize that I wasn't in Albuquerque anymore.

The room I was in was bland and a bit small, the kind of room you would find in an apartment.

I tried to remember how I got here, but nothing came up at first. I couldn't remember anything, expect remember how Victoria and I were at her house saying our last goodbye and sharing one last passionate kiss; her pulling back from the kiss and looking deeply into my eyes with her glorious yet stormy eyes; and opening her mouth, singing me her siren lullaby. And lastly remembered how I got knocked out.

I looked at my alarm clock on the nightstand. The red numbers claimed it was five, and seeing how the sun was slowly rising outside my window, casting shades of pink in the sky, I knew it was morning.

I slowly got out from bed, and walked over to the window, watching the sun as it rises up high and takes it rightfully place in the sky, making it morning time. I looked down at myself. I was still dressed in Carlisle's clothes that didn't fit well at all. I looked around the room, eyeing the big, comfortably soft bed where I rested for God knows how long, the bare walls, and the dresser where my duffle bag rested on.

I went to the dress and went through my bag, finding something clean to change into. I changed into a plain black t-shirt and jeans, and made a weak attempt to tame my messy hair. Letting a big, tired yawn, I slowly turned the knob of my door and opened it.

But as my eyes caught the sight of a surprise standing outside my door, my hands suddenly flew to my mouth and chest to calm down my startled heart and scream that was just about to be used.

"Morning sleepyhead." Alice cheerfully said with a big smile, ignoring the fact that she gave me a heart-attack early in the morning. She took my hand and led me though the living room. I now knew and also saw were staying at an apartment, a loft actually. Jasper was seated on the couch, his eyes watching the morning news with no glimmer of interest.

I sat on the floor next to the coffee table, where a tray of food waited with a mug of coffee. I began eating my food, mostly picking at it without realizing what I was eating, while taking a few gulps of coffee. The bitter taste of the coffee was enough to wake me more up.

Alice perched on the arm of the sofa and followed Jasper's example, watching the T.V blankly.

I don't know how long silence lasted, but it was a pretty long time. I was too bored to even move, too tired to even think.

Silence, silence, silence.

I looked up from the half-eaten breakfast and up at Jasper and Alice, who were still watching the news. "So where exactly are we?"

Puzzled by question, they turned to me. "Don't you remember, silly? We're in New York City, the big Apple." Alice announced cheerfully with a big excited smile to match her enthusiasm.

Taking in my still-confused expression, Jasper continued explaining "After you shared that very_ long_ kiss with Victoria, she sang to you her siren lullaby, knocking you out cold into a very long sleep. Alice and I carried you into the Jeep and drove here."

"You drove all the way from Albuquerque to New York?" I asked, raising my eyebrows as I took another sip of my coffee.

"No," He shook his head, grabbing the T.V remote and finally flipping through the channels. "We took about two planes to get to Boston, and then rode to New York City with the Jeep. And rented an apartment here in Brooklyn. You were asleep for the whole thing, four days actually."

"_Four days?!!_" I exclaimed Victoria knocked me out with her song and had me in deep sleep for _four days_! How could I have let that happen? How much has happened? How was Eliza or my friends? And most importantly, how was Victoria?

Alice reached out and ruffled my hair, treating me like a little kid. "Don't worry about it, Zany. You looked so adorable and peaceful in your sleep, sleeping like a little baby. However you weren't sleeping quietly; you were mumbling all throughout the whole trip. And talking loudly in your sleep as Jasper and I carried you up the apartment, into bed. Speaking of dreaming, would you like to tell us what your dream was about?" Alice mischievously smirked at me.

Bright tomato -red colored my entire face, blushing in utter embarrassment. My cheeks completely flamed, burning hot.

They heard it, all of it. They heard me having a very X-rated dream about Victoria. Now I had a few fantasies about stuff like that, I will admit, but never while I was sleeping. And the worst part was I talked in my sleep, a thing my parents have been teasing me about for years. And also Victoria when she comes over to my house after nighttime to watch me sleep, saying I said her name over a million times while I was asleep and repeatedly exclaimed and mumbled that I loved her. No doubt I was practically screaming every word in my dream.

I got up from the floor and went to the kitchen; making myself another batch of coffee to avoid Alice's embarrassing question and Jasper's intimidating looks. "So does anyone know where I am?" I asked, desperately wanting to change the embarrassing subject.

Jasper shook his head. "No, and we'll have to keep it that way. Ever since we left Albuquerque, the tracker hasn't been able to locate you which is very good and could also mean that he's possibly giving up. Though I must admit, I highly doubt that. And I'm afraid for you, you won't be doing much sight-seeing. To make sure he doesn't track your scent, you have to stay in at all times."

I nodded as I sat back on the floor, leaning against the coffee table while looking at the boring Spanish soap opera they were showing on T.V without really watching it. Alice looked at Jasper, and the two exchanged a long glare. I pushed my luke-warm coffee away, got up from the floor, and walked over to the window, looking out and staring at all of New York City Brooklyn, seeing the sea of yellow cabs forming traffic and watching people as they were rushing by. I envied all of them. They didn't have to hide; they didn't have worry about someone coming after them, possibly with no doubt harming everything they care about, including the love of their life.

I looked back at my reflection. My reflection in the window became to change. My dark brown hair was becoming much longer, reaching down to my back, and darkening to sleek raven-like black; my blue eyes darkening to dark color, nearly black; my body structure was becoming more petite, smaller and feminine; my face morphing into something so beautiful that it was the face of the goddess of beauty, so beautifully unreal that it made my heart melt. When I looked at my reflection more clearly, flames of fire were running dangerously fast though my insides and my heart was quivering.

I was looking into the dark, soulful eyes of my soul mate, the love of my life.

Victoria.

At that moment, I couldn't tell if I was really looking into her eyes, actually seeing her, or if I was letting my imagination getting to me. All I knew is that I was seeing her in the place of my reflection, staring right back at me deeply with her glorious eyes.

Victoria slowly reached out, and, after a moment of hesitation, gently caressed my right cheek. The way she touched me told me that I wasn't an illusion I was having. Her touch was wonderfully the same: cold yet soft smooth. She was really here, holding my cheek.

Then she spoke, her soft angelic voice was whispering soothingly into my ear, as smooth as velvet.

"Please be safe. I love you."

Before I even knew what I was doing, I was leaning in more to her, wanting to at least kiss her one more time even though that would never be good enough for me. I just wanted to feel her lips against mine, to taste her sweet lips and tongue.

The second met lips were about to meet hers, she disappeared; her image vanishing and the window showing me back my reflection.

I gently traced the window with my fingers, trying to see if I would at lease see her image again. But the image never came back.

Sighing with defeat and frustration, I made my way back to the floor and returned to the boring Spanish soap opera. Alice could see the frustration in my face expression and the sadness in my eyes. She got off the couch and sat beside me on the floor, lying on her stomach while casually swinging her legs in the air.

I turned to Alice and asked "How long are we going to be here?"

"Until Carlisle calls." Alice's eyes flitted from mine to the phone on top of her leather bag and back to me.

"He hasn't called yet?" My voice was quivering and I fought to control it.

"They probably don't have anything to tell us." But her voice was too even, and the air was harder to breathe.

Jasper was suddenly beside Alice, closer to me than usual.

"Zane," he said in a suspiciously soothing voice. "You have nothing to worry about. You are completely safe here."

"I know that."

"Then why are you frightened?" He asked, confused. He may be the tenoer of my emotions, but couldn't read the reasons behind them.

I tried hard to look away, to focus on anything else beside his and Alice's curious faces. But their powerful eyes had gotten to me, making it impossible for me to even look away. Sighing, I turned my head slightly toward them, but focused my eyes on the loft's dark, smooth wooden floor. "I'm worry about Victoria," My words came out as mumbles but I knew they were able to hear them. "I can't stop wondering about how she's doing. I can't help worrying about the tracker possibly finding her. I'll never, ever forgive myself if she gets hurt, too. I need to know-"

"Zane, you must stop with your worrying," He interrupted, firmly demanding it as I turned completely away from him. "Trust me on this-no one is in danger. My family is very strong. And my sister, Victoria, despite her small petite size, is the most-skilled and best fighter of our clan. Our only fear is losing you."

"But why would you-"

Alice interrupted this time, using her fingers and placed them under my chin to turn my head back to them again; her cold fingers were somehow calming as they touched my cheek. It wasn't the same loving gesture as Victoria's touch, but was soothing enough to clam me down a bit. "It's been almost over a century since Victoria has been alone. Now she finally found you, her soul mate. You can't see the changes we see, the happiness we've seen in her eyes and the smile that often lights up her face. We've known her for so long and never, ever saw that happiness in her eyes until she met you. Let me ask you this. Do you think we would want to see that happiness fade away into eternal sadness and weeping sorrow in her eyes for the next hundred years if she loses you?"

My guilt was slowly dissolving as I looked into her certain, calming eyes. I felt waves of calmness wash over, but couldn't trust myself if I was really feeling it or if Jasper was the one controlling it.

It was a long day.

We stayed in the apartment all day. The windows stayed shut, and the TV was on, even though no one was watching it. At regular times, take-out food was delivered for me.

I knew I was only one who remained worried, the one who couldn't help but fear the situation we were in. My babysitters handled it much better than I did. They only entertained themselves by watching me as I paced around the loft, trying to distract myself, and look away from their intense eyes.

As the afternoon dreaded on and with boredom getting to me, I distracted myself with my smoking and sketching. I drew over a dozen drawings. Alice and Jasper looked over my shoulder, surprise interest showing in their eyes as they watched me sketched. When I was finally done, I put my pencil down and looked over my drawings: some of sunsets at the beach; a clear cloudless sky; the statue of Liberty; my old house in LA and the one in Albuquerque.

My last drawing really caught my attention, causing me to hold it up and examine it more. It was of a couple in a dark, blackened room. The black-haired woman was cradling the man in her arms, pressing her forehead against his. The man was still in her arms, lying like he was dead or at least about to die. The woman's lips were pressed against the man's neck, looking like she was kissing him with her dark-red lips.

I couldn't explain why, but it was like I was creating something that was about to happen, like drawing a vision. I couldn't identify the couple. The woman's face was covered by her long, dark hair that showed only a glimpse of her red lips, and the man's eyes were covered.

Later in the afternoon, I just decided to go the bed, still dressed in my regular clothes. Alice followed me into the bedroom, while Jasper stayed in the living room and continued to watch the TV blankly, and watched me carefully as I slowly lay in the bed and just stared up at the ceiling, too lost in my thoughts to even sleep. Moments ago I did feel tired enough to sleep, but the tiredness soon passed and I just laid bed, fully awake with my eyes focusing on the bland ceiling.

"You're still thinking about her, aren't you?" Alice asked me after minutes of long silence as she watched me immensely.

I nodded; ignoring the sigh I heard escape her lips. "I can't help it, okay. I have to know if she's okay."

Alice took my hand and used her cool thumb to encircle small circles around my hand in an attempt to comfort me, thought it did little help. "Zane, we've been through this. Everything is going to be okay. I promise."

For her sake, I took her word for it. We then just laid silently, wrapping in our individual mediations.

The seconds, minutes ticked by, and I had almost forgotten Alice was even there. I was too lost in my thoughts.

Then, without explanation or warning, Alice suddenly leaped from the bed, landing perfectly on her feet. My head jerked up as I stared at her, startled by her actions.

"Something's changed." Her voice was urgent, and she was no longer talking to me.

She reached for the door at the same time Jasper did. He obviously heard out conversation and her sudden exclamation. He put his hands on her shoulders and guided her back to the bed, sitting on her the edge.

"What did you see?" He asked, staring into her eyes. Her eyes looked distant, like they were miles and miles away, yet remained focused. I moved closer to her to hear her more clearly as she spoke in a low, quick voice.

"I see a room. It's long, and there's a big mirror that covers the complete left wall. The floor is wooden. He's in the room, waiting."

"Where is the room?"

"I don't know," She mumbled miserably. "Something is missing though, which means he's deciding on a choice."

"How much time?"

"It's soon. Maybe in the next day or two. It all depends. He's waiting for something. And he's in another room, a dark pitch-black room."

Jasper's voice remained clam yet sternly firm as he questioned her. "What is he doing?"

"He's watching TV…no, he's running a VCR, in the dark, at another place. And unfortunately I couldn't see where he is, it was too dark."

"In the mirror room, where is in there?"

"Just that big mirror. And…there's also a big, black table with a big stereo, and a TV. He's...touching the VCR, but doesn't watch the way he does in the dark room. The mirror room is where he waits." Her eyes drifted, and then focused on Jasper's face.

"Nothing else?"

She shook her head. They looked at each other, motionless.

"So what does that mean?" I asked timidly, breaking the eerie silence.

Neither of them answered for a long moment, the eerie silence making my worries grows ten times bigger and bigger, nor then finally did Jasper look at me.

"It means that the tracker's plans have changed. He has made a decision that will lead him to the mirror room, and the dark room."

"And we don't know where those rooms are?"

"Unfortunately yes, that is correct."

"However, we do know that he won't be in Albuquerque, being hunted by the others." Alice voice was bleak.

"Shouldn't we call the others to let them know?" I asked. They traded a serious look, undecided.

And then the phone rang.

Quickly running to the living room, Alice retrieved the phone. "Carlisle," Her voice sounded formal and urgent.

Jasper and I went to the living room, and listened to Alice as she continued talking.

"Yes," She said, taking a quick glance at me. She listened for a long moment.

"I just saw him," She described what she had seen in her vision again. "Whatever made him get on that plane….it was leading him to those rooms." She paused. "Yes," Then turned to me and held out the phone, motivating me to take it. "It's for you."

Hesitantly, I slowly took the phone and held it against my ear.

"Hello?" I finally said.

"Zane." Spoke the voice of my angel.

"Victoria!" Relief and worry overwhelmed me, making me unsteady as my head spun. "God dammit, you wouldn't believe how worried I was."

"Zane," She sighed in frustration. "Didn't I tell you not to worry about me? The only thing you should worry about is yourself." I couldn't stop myself from smiling big while I listened to her. It was too unbelievably good to hear her velvet voice again.

"Where are you?"

"We're outside Vancouver. I'm so, so sorry, Zane. The goddamn bastard got away. He grew suspicious of us, and I saw able to read a quick look of his mind before he was gone. He has figured out our game and is heading back to Albuquerque to start all over." Behind me, Alice was whispering in Jasper's ear, informing about the tracker.

"I know. Alice saw him getting away."

"You don't have to worry though," Victoria tried to reassure me. "He won't find anything to lead him to you. You'll continue to stay in New York City until we find him again."

"Alright," I nodded, even though I knew she couldn't see it. "Is Eliza safe?"

"Yes, Emma is with her. The female did invade the house once, but that was while Eliza was still away at work. The female hasn't gone near her, so don't be frightened. She's safe with Emma and Rosalina."

"But I still don't get it. The guy's planning to go to somewhere, so why is she still there?"

"My only guess is she's trying to pick up a trail. Rosalina traced her scent practically everywhere. The female is digging for a simple trace, anything to help her soul-mate find you. But unfortunately for her, there's nothing to be found."

After informing that Eliza was going to be safe, my worried guilt was slowly dissolving. I sighed with utter relief, but still didn't feel right. And knew why. "I miss you."

"I know, Zane," Her words coming out as small and quiet as a murmur; sadness well heard in her tone. "Believe me, I know. I miss you, too-too much."

"I wish I could see-no, correction, I need to see you! God dammit, I have to see you."

"Soon. I promise. But I need to protect you first-and I will." Her words were still quiet, but hardness well heard.

I sighed, and then turned to the window where I saw her, her image reflection, the last time. And for a spilt moment I saw her image in again, her face expressionless but her eyes both fiercely firm yet sadly worry. "I love you." I reminded her.

"I love you, too," Both she and her image said to me, quietly murmured. "I'll see you again soon."

As soon as the phone went dead, my heart slowly sank to the bottom as my relief was quickly washed away into returned worry. She said not to worry, everyone told me not to worry. But I failed miserably with each try. Worrying seemed like the only logical thing to do.

My eyes flickered to the window, but once again her image was gone.

I looked over at Alice and Jasper, who were seated on the couch and bending over the coffee table. Alice was sketching on a piece of blank paper. I looked over her shoulder and glared at the sketch, thinking she was also a good artist.

She drew a room: long, rectangular. The wooden planks that made up the floor stretched lengthwise across the room. The left side wall were lines denoting the breaks in the mirror that was large enough to be the size of over a dozen mirrors put together.

"It's a studio." I said, recognizing the familiar shapes after examining the picture.

They turned to me, looking surprise by my claim.

"Do you know this room?" Jasper asked me, sounding both calm and something else I couldn't identify.

In fact, I did. After looking at it and examining it closely, I realized that it did look familiar. It was a studio, a studio that looked like the same place where I used to take karate classes when I was about eight or nine.

Jasper and Alice only stared at me after I told them this.

"And you are sure it's the same room?" Jasper asked me.

"I'm not sure," I shrugged. "I guess most studios look the same. It's just that it looks so much like my old one. This shape seems like the only thing that's familiar to me." I touched the door in the drawing, set in the exact same place like the one I remembered.

"But of all places, why there?" Alice questioned.

"I have no idea. I haven't done karate in years."

"So there's no way it could be connected to you?"

Again I shrugged. "No, at least I'm not sure. It's probably just some other studio."

"Where was the studio were you went to?" Jasper asked causally.

"It was just around the corner from my dad's house. I used to walk there after school…" My voice trailed off. I didn't miss the lock they exchanged.

"In LA?" His voice was still causal.

"Yeah," I muttered. "Fifty-Eighth Street at Jackson Center."

We all sat in silent, staring at the picture.

"Alice, is it safe to use the phone?" I asked.

"Yes, the number would only trace back to New York City. Why do you ask?"

I explained to her that I needed to call my dad, to tell him that I was okay and also try to warn him. Even though, he and Libby are in a business trip, I still wanted to call him. Alice didn't look pleased at first, but soon with a sigh agreed to let me call home. After being worried by Jasper by not telling Mike where I was and getting out too much information, I eagerly took my iPhone from her hand and dialed the familiar number.

Surprise, surprise, all I got was the stepmother's breezy voice message answering.

"Hey Dad. Listen, it's me. I'm guessing you probably talked to Eliza and are now worried about me. I'm fine, okay. But I need you to do something for me. I need you to call me as soon as you get this message. Like I said before, I'm okay, and need you to call my cell phone the minute you get this message, no matter how late it is."

I slowly shut my phone and handed to back to Alice, who looked at me worriedly. I didn't return her gaze, grabbed my black iPod, and sat on the couch, listening to my playlist of MJ songs. The first song that came up was _I just can't loving you_, our song. I slowly closed my eyes and listened to the music.

I must have fallen asleep on the couch as I was listening to the songs and waiting for the phone to ring. The touch of Alice and Jasper's cold hands woke me up briefly as they carried me to the bed, but I was soon out cold once again the second my head hit the pillow.


	13. Chapter 13

I shivered in my bed, caused by both freezing chill and the nightmares that was taking over my mind and turning my much-needed sleep into chaotic terror. Images of sick, twisted things mangled with my head: my family getting hurt because of me; my friends getting hurt because of me; Victoria getting killed right in front of me and the tracker vampire looking right at me, as a weak insect, his red eyes glowing with great hunger and a smile of dark amusement growing on his face until it was a big evilly, wicked grin.

With a jolt, my eyes popped wide opened, and I took calming, deep breaths. I turned to the alarm clock on my nightstand that claimed it was three in the morning, too early to be up.

I lifted my body up and rubbed my eyes. When my eyes flickered to the window, they widened with surprise and shock as they eyed a surprise that was with me in the room, watching me as I slept.

My insides were burning hot with fire as I sat up straight and looked more at the person, who was looking back at me. Using the fainted light of the moonlight, I was able to examine the person.

Long, glossy ebony tousles that spilled onto her shoulders, porcelain skin that was clear and creamy and looked so natural in the dark night, lips red and plump and looked like they were filled with something sweet, dark soulful yet unreadable eyes. Dressed in a white halter top and dark denim skinny boot-cut jeans, and the outfit clung to her petite body, showing off her curves marvelously.

I closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, the sweet scent of rain and cinnamon mixed with vanilla filling my nostrils.

"Victoria." I muttered, opening my eyes again and looked at her.

With grace, she slowly walked out the corner and sat on the bed with me. Her expression unreadable, absolutely expressionless and her eyes that were once golden were darkened to almost black.

I couldn't take my eyes off her. I wasn't sure whether I was dreaming and having an illusion. I hesitantly reached out and gently stroked her left, the touch of her silken coolness familiar to me.

I knew I wasn't having another dream, or another illusion. She was really here, safe and sound. I could almost smile.

I almost did, but soon the half smile vanished as I looked into her eyes that were hollow with sadness.

"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her gently. Moisture was showing in her eyes, darkening them. "We're together now."

She tried to smile-I could see that- and yet she couldn't. Something was really bothering her. She covered her mouth with her hand and slowly closed her eyes, needing a minute to herself. "I'm just so glad you're okay." She whispered softly, while re-opening her eyes.

She cupped my face in her cool hands and caressed my cheeks tenderly, as her eyes took in every inch of my face, mesmerizing it. While she kept her expression firm and emotionless, her eyes immediately gave her away, showing me the deep emotional depths, revealing the deep sorrow and worry with also pain as well. I slowly placed my hands over hers, brushing my lips against hers only once before slowly pulling back. "I'm so, so sorry," She murmured, her voice cracked, sounding like it was very close to crying. "This is all my fault. Rosalina was right, my insists were right. I should have never intruded in your life, none of this would be happening. You would have been back home, safe and sound, hanging with your friends, enjoying yourself and having fun, and living a normal, happy human life. But instead you're brought into this horrible mess all because of me. I'm so sorry. If I ever lost you, Zane, I would never forgive myself and kill myself right then and there. I'm so sorry that I caused this."

Her onyx-black eyes were pooling with unshed tears, and soon the tears slowly fell, quietly rolling down her cheeks and dripping onto my hands. Victoria used one of her hands to touch her wet cheek and left eye. When she slowly pulled back her hand and looked at the wet tears, she was appalled by it. "I'm crying?" She whispered; her tone was questioning and surprise, as if she didn't think it was possible.

Her bottom lip trembled as more tears silently rolled down her cheeks. I kissed away every tear she shed tenderly, and I reached out and crushed her body into mine; pulling her so she sat on my lap. I buried my head in the mass of the pitch-black, silky curls of her hair, deeply inhaling her beautiful scent and quietly sighed in relief as I felt her arms circling around my neck.

We both shivered when our breaths caressed the skin of each other's necks, and tightened our hold on each other automatically, trying to keep warm and make this moment last, wanting it to be just like this forever. We gazed into each other's eyes and realized something: this would probably be the last night that we can be together.

I slowly pulled Victoria back and wiped the tears away from her eyes that continued to fall. When she stroked my cheeks and gently rubbed my eyes that was darkened to cobalt blue and moisture with tears, I had no idea that I was also crying, too.

The great urge to kiss her soft, scarlet lips was too much to even bear. I was practically dying from the urge. Victoria gently traced my lips with her finger, looking deeply into the ocean blue of my eyes as I got lost in the deep wells of her eyes, instantly getting lost in them and could look into them for hours. I opened my mouth to say something to her, to tell her how much I missed her, but then Victoria gripped tightly onto my shirt, nearly ripping it off, and kissed my open-lips, both roughly and passionately filled with deep desperation, saying all the love she felt for me and the same amount of agonizing I was also filling into that one hot, beautiful kiss, robbing me of the breath.

The fire inside my body was roaring with desire and lust, growing more and more strong and powerful. We kissed each other both passionately lovingly and frantically. We kissed in over a dozen different ways, all that felt so damn right and great. We kissed soft and sweet, passionately and hungrily, deeply and lovingly; kissing as if we were starving for each other.

"Zane." She moaned softly against my mouth as our kisses quickly became more hotly intense. Her moans increasing louder and louder as my lips trailed down to her neck and kissed it repeatedly over a hundred times. The texture of her cold, smooth skin was becoming, very slowly, softer and actually warmer.

When our lips came together again, our kisses changed. They became rough, intensity desperate, filled with hungrily wanting and needing. Victoria's soft moans became even louder as I kissed and licked the curves of her breasts. My hands crawled under her shirt, only feeling her smooth skin. No bra, she was wearing nothing underneath. I still wanted more, I wanted much more. Needed it like it was food.

I quickly untie the halter top and tossed it asides, plunging my face into her perfect cleavage, nuzzling into it's unusually, surprising soft warmness. My hand ran over her ribcage and gently gripped her breast and started to knead it as my mouth left open-mouthed kisses and found its way to the right one. She gasped and moaned as I began to suck and tease it with my tongue, hearing her purring moans which drove me even more crazily insane by the second, making me suck and lick her sweet breasts even harder and longer.

Victoria quickly stripped me of my night shirt and tossed it on the floor. Her hands were on my chest, her delicate fingers going unerringly to my nipples and sending an icy-hot spike of need straight to my cock. My hips bucked and my buttocks clenched, echoing the throbbing desire of my penis to impale and thrust.

She pushed me back onto the bed and hovered over me, her midnight hair tickling my cheek and her sweet lips feeding me hot, passionate kisses. I wrapped my arms around her waist, pulling her closer to me and wanting more. I needed more.

Suddenly, she pulled back. She just pulled away from me and got off the bed, leaving me very hot and bothered.

I wondered then if I did something wrong.

I watched Victoria as she stood in front of the closed door, just looking at it for a long time. I wondered then if she was going to leave again, and prayed she wouldn't.

She instead locked the door and pushed the heavy dresser against it, bolting the door. Victoria then turned back to me and walked in front of the bed, standing in front of me. She then stripped-very slowly which caused both my heart and eyes to melt like heated chocolate- and casually tossed the rest of her clothes on the ground. She just gazed at me with her beautiful eyes, standing tall with that unreadable expression on her face.

I merely sat in the bed, gaping at her, feeling my heart swelling and practically bursting out of my chest, beating so loudly that I bet all of New York could hear from the sight of the breathtakingly, mouthwatering woman standing before me, all bare and natural.

"You're beautiful." I whispered to her. Her pale skin was creamy and flawless, and the sight of her perfectly round and full big C-cup breasts made my mouth watered. There was no way, in God's great name, this raven-haired goddess was meant for me, it was too impossible to even imagine.

Victoria's unreadable expression was softened, a smile slowly lifting up the corners of her lips. She got onto of the bed, once again pushing me down and hovering over me. Her fingers trailed down to my chest, gently tracing it, and kissed every inch of chest, sucking on my nipples long and hard, and peppering every inch of my upper body with her sweet kisses. Her lips founded mine again, and the fire engaged, its flames burning wildly with hot passion.

As our lips moved together in a furious dance, my hands were busy caressing and touching and feeling as much of her body as possible. This beautiful Goddess was giving herself to me and it was as though I didn't know where to begin, where I wanted to touch her more.

Her own fingers had moved to grasp onto my fly, popping open the top button then the zipper coming down. My blue plaid cotton boxers failed to conceal the evidence of my raging erection – which she looked at with a sudden lust, a lust which nearly sent me over the edge.

She laid me flat on the bed and hovered over me, looking at me with her lustful dominate eyes which really turned me on. Slowly, she peeled off my boxers, freeing my wild penis, which actually stood erect, that was begging for her from its prison. She placed long, languid kisses along the length of my penis. My whole body immediately tensed up as she began to intensify the kisses, until they really became prolonged love bites. She gently took the head of my penis into her mouth, sucking and swirling her tongue around the swollen tip.

I moaned loud, throwing my head back, feeling like I was about to explode any minute. I wasn't an expert of sex and knew Victoria has never done either and this was both our first time, but the way she was making me feel, the way she was making my body feel like it was on fire, was completely and absolutely indescribable. It was as if she was a beautiful, naughty seductress with many years of experience of how to turn a man on. She was skillfully working her way around my pubic area, taking my length in her mouth, swirling her tongue around the head, taking my balls within her mouth and suckling and teasing lightly, trailing her tongue teasingly over my frenulum. I was so close but I didn't want it to happen that way, absolutely not.

I turned us over so she was lying underneath me while I hovered over her, keeping our bodies all but fused. I kissed her deeply and also desperately, allowing one of my hands to retreat to her breast while the other curled around the back of her neck, pulling her closer to me as our tongues entwined. She began to moan against my mouth, reacting to the hand against her nipple as well as the intense feeling of desire deep in the pit of her stomach. Not to mention the rather large erection that was still straining against her hip. She reached down to touch it, running her hand up and down its length.

"My, my, my, it seems like someone is getting very excited," My seductress whispered, nibbling my ear playfully yet carefully smirking against my skin as she continued her seductive tricks that caused my words to come out as loud grunts and moans. "Let's see if we can fix that little problem." With great strength and speed by her side, she was able to change our positions, and I looked up at her with anticipation as I watched her lower herself to my cock that was impatiently waiting for her to do something. She twirled my balls in her mouth, smiling smugly against my skin when she heard my loud moans, and ran her tongue slowly and intensity on my cock, causing a loud moan to escape my mouth that was as loud as a scream. She kept going and going with her naughty, seductive tricks until I was finally too powerless to bear it anymore and cum, just spilling everything into her mouth. To my surprise, she licked me entirely clean, and also hungrily like it was the most delicious thing in the world, and swallowed before coming back up.

"You taste so good." She murmured in a sly, seductive voice that I found extremely sexy, peppering hot, damp kisses on my cock and all around it. .

Trying to find the right words to match what she had done to me and also still in blissful stun, I only nodded my head. I looked up at my vampire mistress and smirked, knowing it was my turn to give her pleasure now.

I kissed her down to her jaw line and to her neck. I couldn't help but smile against her skin when she moaned slightly. Victoria's breathing became heavier as I started to suck on the spot on her neck. I smiled moments later, pulling back and looking at the mark I'd made and started to kiss down to her breast. My right hand went to her left breast and slowly started to knead it as my mouth went to her other one and sucked on it, she arched her back up to me and moaned louder when I gave the other one the same attention.

I kissed the tip of her nose, and wriggled down the bed until my mouth was level with her centre. Already wet, beautifully glistening with sweat Teasingly, I planted kisses all over her thighs, her lower stomach – everywhere but where she wanted me, which only made me smirk even more. Suddenly, I focused on the centre of her frustration, and dipped my tongue swiftly between her folds. Victoria almost screamed with the intensity of the reaction that pulsed through her body. I was concerned that I hurt her, and immediately pulled back my hand. She surprised me by shaking her head and grabbing my hand, placing it back in her pussy and urged me with soft moans to go-but faster

I continued more gently – licking, sucking, nibbling, and feeling the frustration Victoria was experiencing since I wasn't filling into her wishes, and almost laughed out loud. It was astonishing, exhilarating, knowing that I could induce such intense feelings in her, the love of my life.

I moved back up along the bed, taking her in one of my arms, and using the other hand to continue stroking her. She seized my lips with her own and almost consumed me with the intensity of her kiss. She was so wet that it was too easy for my hand to stick in there. My fingers began to move faster, in and out of her and back and forth over her clit. She began to approach her climax, and I didn't hold back. I moved faster and harder, coaxing her to the brink, encouraging her to surrender completely to the feeling. I felt her body tense and shudder, as she buried her face in my neck in an attempt to muffle the small scream that she couldn't contain.

Our then lips came together as if magnetized, the rest of our bodies following suit. Taking a deep breath, I gathered up all of my remaining self-control and hesitated at her entrance. I kissed her eyelids again, causing them to flicker open. Once again the desire that I saw there hit me, like lightening bolts.

"Are you sure, Victoria?" I asked softly. "I don't want to hurt you,"

She only gazed into my eyes, with each word of her following sentence being punctuated as she kissed my lips with steamy, sizzling kisses that robbed me of my breath and a stroke of my cock. "I. Want. You. To. Make. Love. To. Me."

She didn't have to say anymore; I was already in, inside of her, taking a moment for her to adjust to my size before I began to pace. Victoria gasped and screamed out loud, so loud that I immediately covered her lips and kissed her passionately, not wanting anybody to disturb this, our moment together. My pace began picking up more and more speed as I felt Victoria begin to build along with me, our thrusts powerfully fast and strong as we moved together. She wrapped her legs around my hips and I sank deeper inside of her, the feeling of pure triumph was washing over while I was making love to beautiful woman.

She was so tight, so warm, and so perfect; everything about her was unbelievably, flawlessly perfect. The way her head was tilted back, the look of elation on her face, the way her fingernails were digging into my shoulders as I pumped in and out and in and out. The way she would lean forward every so often and press her lips to mine in a steamy kiss. The way she was panting and mewling and moaning. The way that she arrived at the exact moment I needed her to, because I was so close to tipping over and all it took was the peak of her climax and the sound of her cries of undulated ecstasy and the feel of her vibrating and contracting around me to cause my own orgasm.

The only sounds that filled the room were the sounds of our bodies hitting against one another, uniting as one; our panted breathing and the very loud moans and grunts and screams that escaped our mouths, urging the other to go much faster, harder.

We kept going on and on, for another hour, maybe even two hours, without stopping. I wanted to keep it on forever, to stay in this room with her forever, and make love to Victoria. That would be like pure heavenly paradise to me.

Finally, it was over and done. Slowly, very slowly, I pulled out of Victoria and crawled my way up to her, until I finally reached her lips and laid a hot, passionately zealous kiss that robbed both of us of our breaths. Our supposed one kiss turned into a very long, deeply passionate kiss that was broken down into over a dozen roughly and desperately hungry, sizzling-hot kisses.

When damn oxygen became a problem for me, Victoria slowly detached her sweet lips away from mine, placing a quick peck on them, before finally pulling back. She gently rested my head on her bare chest and pressed long, lazy kisses on the top of my head, covered our sweat-damp, worn-out bodies with the burgundy blanket sheet, and then stroked my sweat-damp hair while looking up at the ceiling, lost in her thoughts.

"So…how was it?" She asked in curious, very quiet voice.

"It was…it was…" My words came out as pants, caused my heavy breathing. I took a moment to think about a comment, a simple word for the unbelievable thing that just took place. Thinking about the right word on how to describe sex was impossible. There was no word in the entire dictionary to describe the right meaning of sex, making love. "Indescribable." I finally said, lifting myself from her chest and looking at her, with a huge smile on my face. "Indescribable amazing." I added, my smile widening.

She widely smiled back at me, giving me her best, happy smile. I smiled even more as I looked at her. Her long, inky hair was fanned out around the pillows; her lips bare and red from all the intense kisses we shared as we made love; her faintly glowing white skin all bare and natural with show of my love bite marks slowly appearing all over her body. Great God, she was beautiful, so goddamn beautiful that her beauty stunned my mind every time she was around me.

"I love you." I murmured, loving saying those words again and again over and over to her.

"I love you, too." She softly murmured, before pulling me into a steamy hot yet sweet, passionate kiss that was filled with our feelings for each other and wasn't rush, going on and on for over twelve minutes. I wanted more, I wanted even more of her, but she pulled back and looked at me again before finally speaking. "You should get some sleep."

I shook my head. "And wake up the next morning, only to discover that you're gone again and let me worries and fears of you getting hurt restart again. Not a chance."

"You mustn't worry about me." She whispered, all gentle softness of her voice hardened to firmness. "Your only duty is to worry about yourself. This is my fault, and I'm going to do anything I can to make sure you are safe."

I looked at her for the longest time, trying to read her expression and stormy eyes, feeling I could look into those eyes for hours, only getting lost in them like a maze and not find what I'm looking for. I delicately placed my finger under her chin and turned to her head more toward me, making sure she was looking straight at me. "Look at me. Look right at me and listen," I muttered, slowly caressing her right cheek. "This wasn't your fault; no matter what caused this, it wasn't because of you. And I want you to always this: I love you more than anything, and despite that I'm mortal while you're not, I know we belong together. You're a part of me as I am of you. Nothing can break that. And I also want you to know this; you're the best thing that has ever happened to me."

Moisture began to water her eyes again, but this time her eyes showed happiness instead of sorrow, with a smile lifting up the corners of her lips. She wiped the soft tears that fall from her eyes, the happiness soon dimming with an emotion I couldn't identity that I saw in her eyes. Very slowly, Victoria cupped my face and kissed every inch of my face, skipping my lips which drove me nearly mad, and caressed my cheeks gently. "You're my only reason for living; you're my only reason to stay alive…if that's what I am. For over a century, I have walked this world, with no glimmer of interest, fascination, lacked much liking to anything. But when I first met you, Zane….it was like you were a meteor shining in my dark, cloudless sky, turning everything into danger with such beauty, turning everything that was once familiar to me into something extraordinary. When I'm around you I sometimes forget what I am, often feel like a normal teenage girl. You gave me that happiness and to see it being taken from me would rip and tear my heart in so many ways, more ways than you possibly know. If…you were to someday die, then I would die with you. I would take my own life if I have to, just to be with you. I care about you to much to lose you."

A smile slowly made its way to her lips. "So I guess you're stick with me, Mr. LaForne." She softly teased.

"Well Ms. Rain, I count that as a faithful blessing." I teased back, kissing her deeply and hard once again. Like our last kiss, it was unhurried and was filled with lots of passion, along the feelings of love and worries poured into that kiss.

Victoria finally pulled back, and laid my head on her chest once more. She softly hummed her lullaby and stroked my hair, stopping every now and then to kiss me on the head tenderly.

But I didn't go to sleep right away. I was widely awake as my head was resting on her chest and my body needing a minute to relax and recharged after the triumph of finally making love.

Slowly, I wrapped my arms around my beloved's waist, holding her tightly though I knew my grip she easy for her to escape. "I love you, Victoria." I murmured.

We gazed deeply into each other eyes as we recalled the events of that just took place: me finally reuniting with Victoria, after a long time of separation; our kisses instantly becoming hotter until we finally made love; and Victoria, finally after all this time, getting a taste of my blood and the feeling of her true nation being revealed and being demonstrating to me.

It was unbelievable how mere hours could go by quickly as seconds, but time was meaningless to both of us as we continued to gaze into each other's eyes

Finally we smiled at each other, and leaned in closer and shared one last steamily-hot, roughly desperate, deeply hungrily, passionately lovingly kiss that was in no rush and was another big reminder of why we belong to together.

Tonight was one of the best nights of my entire life.

Despite everything that I had been through, I was able to wake up the next morning without having any nightmares haunting me as I slept. Victoria was already long gone; the faint perfume of her sweet scent remained in the room, and reminded me of her again. I already missed her like crazy, but wasn't sad after quick flashbacks of the hot events that took place last night replayed in my head: Victoria making her appearance in my room after I was having horrible dreams that woke me up; the desperately deep kisses we exchanged that started out as passionate until they quickly became more and more hotly intense; the indescribable , amazingly hot love we made on this very bed and kept going and going on with it, making more love that practically lasted forever.

My body felt restless yet at the same time drained. The love-bites Victoria marked on my skin were proudly being worn. Remembering the touch of her lips sucking on every inch of my skin, very so often sucking on it until it was purplish- bruised, quick rush of thrill pulsed through my veins.

Rolling my worn-out body out of bed, I stretched out my tired arms and legs to wake me up even more, grabbed a fresh towel from my duffle bag, and went to the bathroom where I took a hot, relaxing shower, letting the warm water calm my tense muscles, and brushed my teeth. Then went back to the room and changed into some clean clothes.

Jasper and Alice were already waiting for me in the living room; Alice greeted me with her big smile and Jasper only nodded once at me and returned watching the morning news. Alice handed me a plate of breakfast and watched me as I sat down on the floor and eat it quickly without saying a word, her smile growing bigger and blissful with smugly amusement.

"What?" I asked her, my mouth full with scramble eggs.

"Oh nothing." She said innocently with a simple shrug, but her eyes were a dead give away. "So…did you and V enjoy having sex for the first time?"

I immediately choked on my breakfast after hearing her words, not expecting her to say that. My entire face blushed the brightest shade of red, and I quickly gulped down my orange juice to calm my choking coughs. Alice giggled at my utter embarrassment while Jasper only looked at me, quick glimpse of amusement showing in his eyes.

I chugged down three cups of juice to calm down my choking, blocking out Alice's laughs and ignoring her and Jasper's smugly smiles. Wanting to find a quick escape from them, I grabbed the pack of Marlboro cigarettes I left on the coffee table and went to the kitchen to smoke up a few cigarettes. Alice only laughed more at me while sharing an amused look with Jasper.

"There is nothing to be embarrassing about, Zane. It quite alright and natural to feel this way after sex," Jasper said, flipping through the T.V channels with the remote. "And I can presume it was good since you two were quite loud in your room."

My blush blushed to an even darker red shade, which seemed almost impossible, and my throat quickly became dry as a bone.

"Oh, don't worry, Zane. I sure we weren't the only ones who heard you in the bed. You two were so loud with your moaning and screaming, I bet all of New York City heard you. Any louder, then probably people in Canada heard you."

My cell phone rang, saving me from even more utter embarrassment. Alice answered it for me. "Hello…..why, yes he's here. Hold on for a minute." She pulled the phone away from her ear and handed it over to me. "It's your Dad."

"Hello?"

"Zane? Zane? You okay?" It was my dad's familiar voice, frantically worried, a tone I heard a million times in his voice for as long as I could remember.

I inhaled deeply and sighed, expecting this. Despite my attempt to make my voice message as normal and causal as I could, he was still freaking out.

"Dad, just calm down. Just take a breath and relax." I said, slowly walking away from Alice and Jasper.

When he didn't answer, I was surprised. Normally he would have interrupted me before I could even finish the sentence. "Dad? Mike, you still there?"

"If you love your dad and don't want him to die, you be careful about what you're just about to say and won't say anything until I tell you to." The voice I heard was familiar as it was unexpected. The tone sounded pleasantly polite, and the person continued to speak quickly.

"Now, I don't want to hurt your father, so do what I say, and he'll be alright."

I gulped nervously as I listened in mute horror, wanting for the stranger to say more.

"That's very good," He praised. "Now, repeat after me, and try your best to sound normal. Please say 'No, Dad, stay where you are.'"

"No, Dad, stay where you are." My quivering nerves controlling my voice.

"I can see this is going to be difficult." The voice was amused, still friendly and light. "Why don't you just walk into the room and shut the door so your face doesn't give away anything? After all, there is no reason to make your dad suffer, is there? And while you're walking, say 'Dad, please trust me.'"

"Dad, please trust me." My voice pleaded. I walked slowly to the bedroom, feeling both Alice and Jasper's worried eyes boring into my back. I shut the door behind me, trying to think clearly and calmly through the loud terror that took hold of me.

"Are you alone now? Answer yes or no?"

"Yes."

"And I'm guessing they can still hear you, correct?"

"Yes."

"This is going better than I thought. You know I was prepared to wait, but your father arrived ahead of schedule. It's easier, though. Less suspense, less anxiety for you."

I waited for him to continue.

"Now listen carefully. I need you to get away from your friends. Do you think you might be able to do it? Answer yes or no."

"No."

"I'm sorry to hear that. I was hoping you would be a bit more creative. Now let me ask you this. Do you think you could find a way to get away in order to save your Dad's life? Answer yes or no?"

I knew there had to be someway. I remembered how the night before Jasper say we were going to the airport to meet up with Carlisle and Elliot and also Victoria so they could take me to LA to lay low for awhile. The Logan airport in Boston, he said we were going to. Where it going to be crowded, with people coming and going, getting ready to get on their planes and waiting to be picked up. Where there was going to be a complete swarm of people…

"Yes."

"That's what I like to hear. I'm sure it won't be easy, but I just want to make this clear. I don't like being tricked. So if I get the slightest idea that you have any company following you, well, let's just say that your dad would be in a very bad situation. Also, if I even sense company with you, then I'll also be after your little girlfriend, too."

I completely froze, my body going cold and my heart stopping for a full minute. My shock quickly changed into raging anger, hardening my heart with obligation to kept Victoria protected, in any way I can.

"You wouldn't fucking dare!" I growled under my breath, my voice filled with venom enough to kill someone.

"Oh, but I would, Zane. So you see, you really are in tight situation with very little options to help you. You either get here in LA or can say goodbye to dear old daddy and kiss your little girlfriend goodbye," He then sighed. "It would be such a shame, though, ending their lives. Your father seems like a nice man. And Victoria is one very, pretty gorgeous girl. Maybe I'll just keep her as an extra soul mate, maybe even a sex slave. Even though, I have my own soul mate who I honestly love-_sometimes_, she is no where as beautiful as Victoria."

"So fucking help me, Jesus Fucking Christ, I will fucking slaughter-"

"Ah, ah, ah. I don't think your dad would approve of your cursing to me. Like I said, Zane, you are in tight situation with very little options. You have a choice, and have to make it now. Do you understand? Yes or no?"

"Yes."

"And please try to hurry, Zane. I don't like waiting."

"What about Libby?" I asked tensely.

"Now be careful. Remember what I said about waiting for me to tell to speak."

I waited.

"It's important your friends don't be suspicious when you go to them. Tell them that your father called, and that you talked him out of coming home early. Now repeat after me. 'Thank you, Dad for understanding.'"

"Thank you Dad for understanding." I said as calmly as I could, through my grinded teeth.

He chuckled, hearing the drop of anger in my tone. "You can't win, Zane. I look forward to seeing you. Your father is also anticipating your arrival. Isn't that right, Mike?"

"ZANE! Zane!!!" My dad's voice came back, frantic and over the edge of panicking.

"You have less than 72 hours, which should be enough time to get here. See you soon."

As the line went dead, I stood still in the middle of the room, with the phone still pressed against my ear. The chill silence was haunting me, tormenting me. My body was so tense, I felt if I moved a single muscle then I would explode.

Feeling weary and limp, like a puppet, I finally hung up the phone and placed it in my pocket. Before leaving the room, I took silent, deep breaths and fixed my expression to look fine and relaxed, following his instructions so they wouldn't suspect a thing. I went to the living room, only to discover that Alice was the only one there.

"Jasper went to go get our plane tickets." Alice said, practically reading my mind. "So, how was your chat with your dad?"

"I was able, after a long time of pleading, to convince him to not come home yet."

"Well that's good," Alice softly smiled. "Our flight leaves in 4 hours, so you better get ready."

I tried my hardest to smile back at her as I nodded my head. I grabbed a ballpoint pen, a white notepad and also an envelope, and went to my room. I sat on the bed and looked at the blank walls for a matter of minutes; so many thoughts were crammed into my head, making my brain struggle to come up a plan.

It was anonymous. My decision was made, and I had to follow it. Victoria would never forgive me for doing this, might even hate me. But I had to do it, or at least try to do something. With me surrendering, the tracker would win his game and the people I love would be safe. My death is the only thing that can keep them safe.

Finally I let out a breath and sighed, knowing what I had to do.

I packed up all my clothes and items into my duffle bag, which was struggling to keep everything closed and inside. And then ripped a sheet from the notepad, laid the paper on the dresser, and wrote down my letter:

_I'm sorry for doing this to you, but he has my dad. And I have to try to do something. Tell Alice and Jasper thanks for everything they have done for me. And also if you see my mom again, tell her that I love her_

_Please don't blame this on yourself, Victoria. You didn't cause this to happen, and only try to prevent it. I want you to always know and remember this: I never regret meeting you, talking to you for the first time and getting to know you. I glad we became friends and also glad we became soul mates. You're the best thing that has ever happened to me. I love you, Victoria. Always have and always will._

Eventually she would find this. I folded the letter and put it in the envelope, sealing it along with my heart.


	14. Chapter 14

It took us two hours to drive from New York City to Boston, and another hour to drive to the Logan Airport. We took about two or three flights until we finally landed in an LA airport.

We waited around for the other members of the Rain family to arrive, watching as chaos was happening all around the airport. Where lines were long and getting even longer by the second; people running and rushing.

I looked at Alice and Jasper, who waited patiently in their seats, just watching people as they passed by. I then remembered about the letter which I kept in my jeans' pocket. I took a quick glare at it, before tucking into Alice's purse. Alice turned to me, slighty surprised, and I only shrugged.

"It's just a letter." I said.

Casually shrugging herself, she tucked the letter in a pocket in her bag, and held it closely to her.

Alice questioned me over and over if I wanted to have any breakfast, but I told her unusual 'no' answer. I checked my watch and saw it was time to go.

Finally I got from the bench and told them I was heading to the café to get some breakfast, and also insisted that Jasper comes with me. Alice looked surprised, but neither she nor Jasper questioned my request. Jasper and I used an escalator to head to the upstairs café. On the way, I made a quick excuse to use the men's room. Jasper was about to follow me inside, until I convinced him to wait outside.

Once inside, I waited for a few minutes until I finally cracked open the door just a bit and took a small peek outside, seeing Jasper was standing by end near of opposite side, near the escalator and looked around as he waited for me to finish. I then made my escape and ran, putting all energy into my legs and forcing them to run faster. Luckily for me, the bathroom was near two exits. I took the farthest by the left, hoping I wouldn't be located in the sea of people.

Outside the door was an only a short sprint to the elevators. I didn't look back as I ran, refusing with each quick step I took to look back and possibly see Jasper trying to stop me. People stared, and I only ignored as I ran.

I quickly slide into the elevator, barely making it. I had to squeeze in beside the irritated passengers, and only focused on the elevator that was going down.

Once the doors opened, I immediately pushed my way through the crowd and ran, ignoring the annoyed grumbles and irritated comments behind me. Knowing Jasper and Alice would realize I was gone and would find me in a heartbeat, I quickly spotted a cab that was dropping off an elderly couple and ran to it, sliding into the seat behind the cab driver. Both the drover and couple stared at me, bewildered.

I told the surprised cabbie my dad's address. "I need you to get there as fast as possible."

After informing me how much cab-fare would cost and my patience becoming anxious and irritated, I overpaid him with an extra tip. He immediately shut his mouth once he received the money, and drove in silent, keeping his word to drive fast to my dad's.

I sat back in my seat, my arms folded against my chest. I refused to look out the windows and look at the familiar city, my familiar home. Exerting myself to maintain cool and calm, I was determined not to lose myself at this point. My plan was set, leaving me no other choice expect to follow it.

"Here we are kid." No doubt the greedy driver just wanted me out the cab because he was worried I would probably ask for change.

I murmured thanks before getting out of the cab and walking to the door, reaching under the doormat to revive the spare key hidden underneath. Automatically, I unlocked the door and opened it, only to discover that the house was dark, empty, and normally quiet. Near the living room phone was a pink slip with a ten-digit number written in red ink. I dialed the number quickly with the success of not stumbling and having to start over again. I held the phone against my ear with a shaking hand.

"Hello Zane," the voice answered, after one ring. "I'm very impressed that you were able to make it."

"How's my dad?"

"I can assure you that your father is doing quite well. Don't worry, Zane. I wouldn't hurt your father, that is, unless you're bringing company to our little party." He answered darkly amused.

"I'm alone." I told him.

"Splendid. Now, you do remember the studio around the corner from your house? Correct?"

"Yes."

"Even more splendid. I'll see you soon."

I hung up.

I ran from the room, through the door, out into the twilight night, running fast as I ever could in my entire life.

I knew Victoria would hate me possibly forever for doing this, but I still kept going, still had to at lease try. I knew this was the only way that could save my dad's life and hers: my death happening in the mirrored room. The tracker would win his game, and the people I cared about would be safe.

The door to the studio was surprisingly unlocked, and I walked in nervously. I looked around the familiar lobby as memories of my dad waiting for me as I took my lessons swarmed into my head. The eerie silence was chilling every bone in my body as I realized that somewhere in the entire building were my father and tracker waiting for me to make my appearance

I then heard Mike's voice.

"_Zane! Zane, where are you?!_"

I jolted into a run, springing the western door upstairs where his terrified-toned voice was coming from.

"Zane! Zane!" His terrified cries continued as I ran into the long, high-ceiling room.

I stared around me, trying to locate his voice, but still couldn't find him.

The door shut closed and the lights dimmed. I slowly turned my back around. He was standing very still by the back exit, so still I hadn't noticed him. We stared at each other for a long moment, until he smiled.

He walked toward me, his smile still wide on his smug face with his arms crossed against his chest.

"Welcome Zane. The name's Anthony. So glad we could finally meet face-to-face."

As I looked at him, the answer suddenly hit me hard.

My dad wasn't here. He was never here. He was safe, back in Europe with Libby. This meant he never got my message. He wasn't threatened by the devil that stood before me with the dark red eyes screaming for thirst and his face abnormally pale. He was safe.

"How'd you do it?" I asked him curiosuly, surprised how strangely normal and casual my voice sounded.

He smiled darkly at me as a chuckle escaped his lips. "It's my ability. I'm able to duplicate voices, which comes in very handy. Listen for a moment," He cleared his throat for a moment, and put on Mike's voice, sounding exactly like my dad when he's in his panic moments. "Zane! Zane! Zane, where are you!!!?"

He chuckled again, and sighed as he slightly shook his head. "So sorry about tricking you, Zane. But I was so looking forward to finally meeting you, and it is best that we don't involve your father, isn't it?"

"Yes." I answered my face still firm while my voice saturated with relief.

"Funny. You don't sound mad that I tricked you."

"I'm not." My high boldness made me brave. There was no reason to be mad anyway. It would all be over. Eliza and Mike would remain safe, wouldn't' be harmed. That was all that mattered to me.

"How odd. You actually mean it." His dark eyes assessed me with interest, wicked evil and thirst glowing in his bright eyes. "It's really quite amazing. Shows me that rare humans, like yourself, seem to have no sense of your own self-interest at all."

He was standing a few feet away from me, arms folded, looking at me curiously. There was no menace in his face, no stance. For a vampire who was supposed to have inhuman looks to match those of gods, he was actually average-looking. Nothing remarkable about his face or body. Just white skin, the circled eyes I've grown use to. He wore a long-sleeved denim jacket that was unbuttoned and revealed his black shirt and a pair of dark wash jeans.

"I suppose your little girlfriend will avenge you?" he asked, surprising me with his hopeful tone.

"No, at least I don't think so. I told her not to."

"But why, though? That's what makes this game ever more fun. What was her reply?"

"I don't know." It stunned me how easy it was to converse with the genteel hunter. "I left her a letter."

"How romantic, the last love letter. It's a classical Romeo and Juliet act. Do you think she will honor it?" His voice was bit harder this time, dark sarcasm mingling with his polite tone.

"I can only hope."

"Hmmm. Well, our hopes differ then. You see, this was just a little too easy, too quick. To be honest, I'm quite disappointed. I expected a much greater, exciting challenge. Easiness just bore me."

I waited in silence.

"When the game first begun and my useful-yet-terribly-annoying soul mate, Loretta, couldn't get to your mother, I thought where you could possibly be in the entire world. At first I though you would be in LA, thinking all humans are just too damn predictable. But you, my great challenge, took another route in New York City. Loretta tracked down the Jeep heading to Boston, taking a downtown shortcut to New York City. I was able to hack into your cell number. And here we are."

I didn't reply. My bravery was slowly wearing off. I could sense he was at the end of his gloat and through with games.

Taking a nervous, deep breath, I glanced around the huge, empty studio, memories of me as little boy fighting and being in matches that took place in this very room flowed through my mind. I eyed the huge T.V set by the corner that was set with a VCR and a remote, and then remembered about what Alice said she saw in her vision. I asked, trying to still act firm and unafraid, "What was the point of the TV?"

"Simple. You see, when I came to your dad's house and was browsing through the home videos, I thought about using one video of your dad to lure you in. But since I already have my ability to help me with that, I decided to watch just daytime shows and boring soap operas, which by the way are completely boring, to pass the time as I waited for my prize to arrive. Which by the way is you, in case you haven't figured it out."

"Geez, I feel lucky." I said bitterly sarcastic.

"Well, you should," He was still smiling, unaffected by my sarcasm.

He then pulled out a digital, palm-size camcorder from his jacket's pocket, with the red light indicating it was on. He adjusted it a few times, widening the frame. I stared in a mixture of both curiosity and horror.

"What the hell are doing?" I asked him.

""Making a little something for your girlfriend. Think of it as…a little goodbye, farewell home movie present," He said, pointing the camera at my face "The look of pure dying agony and rage when she sees this is going to be too damn priceless. I know she won't resist coming after me when she sees this. And I wouldn't want her to miss a single second of this."

The blood in my veins boiled as my mind created an image of Victoria, broken and hollow and in pain as if her whole world was destroyed, as if there was no meaning to life anymore. The imagined look nauseated me, nearly breaking my own heart, and also caused my body to tense up immediately and my hands were tightly clenched into fists.

Son of a fucking bitch!!! How could someone be so cold, so goddamn heartless!

My calmness that remained in my head, remaining me to stay cool and just wait till it's over, was the only thing that stood in my way from giving the bastard a good punch in his face.

"Ah, what's the matter? You look upset." He laughed at his own stupid, pointless joke. "Maybe this will teach your little whore to just fuck around with her own kind, instead of scum humans like you."

_That does it!_

"MOTHERFUCKING SON OF A FUCKING BITCH!!!" I charged toward him and punched him as hard as I could in the face.

Punching him in the face was the exact same like punching a stoned wall: hard, cold to touch, and instantly broke my hand. I tried to for another punch with my other hand, but he also grabbed that one, too, along with the broken one, before it even made contact with his face.

His face was still light and friendly, but there was something different in his smile. The pleasant smiles became harder and harder, growing darker until it morphed into a full bloodcurdling, wicked grin.

"You really shouldn't have done that."

A crushing blow stuck my chest as he only dabbed me lightly, as light a feather. I felt myself falling backward, rolling and hurling on the hard, wooden floor until I felt a crunch in my head as it was bashed into the mirrored wall. The wall buckled, some pieces of broken glass shattering and splintering on the floor beside me.

I was too stunned to feel the pain. I was too shocked to even breathe.

The devil slowly walked toward me, the camcorder recording everything as it rested in his hand.

"Beautiful. Just beautiful. This is going to be an extraordinary movie."

_God damn him_, I thought as I ignored the bastard and stumbled to get on my feet, running as fast as I could to the other door, refusing to think about the excruciating pain that burned my entire body.

I then felt myself being lifted from the ground. His hand was around my neck, the grip tight and nearly choked me to death. Practically every bone in my ribcage was swollen and broken as he flung me around the wall at each of my sides. He tossed me carelessly back to the mirrored wall, pieces of broken glass cutting into my skin like thin paper, inflicting deep wounds on my body. My blood was staining onto my clothes, clearly visible.

He went over to me and his foot stepped hard on my leg, the pain pounding on me like a million bricks. I heard the sickening snap before I felt it, and couldn't hold in the loud scream of agony.

My pained screams only made his dark smiles grow into cold, ear-to-ear grins.

"Let me ask you something. Would you like your precious Victoria to be in your place? To suffer the same, unbearable pain you feeling right now?" he asked pleasantly.

"_No!_" My scream was mixed with both the unbelievable pain and raging fury. "Don't you fucking dare touch her, you motherfucking bastard!!!"

"You're worthless. Absolutely, completely worthless. Nothing but a worthless piece of fucking shit," He grinned at my struggles to get up, only miserably falling back ay my face again. "Come on, Zane. Tell her to avenge your death! Let her know that this is all her fault!"

I pressed my lips firmly as I tried to hold on to the wall, struggling to get up once more.

"Come on, tell her! Tell her! TELL HER!" He shouted, pointing the camera right in my face. His dark eyes became more monster-like, cold and dark, filled with bloodlust and anger. He looked like an actually vampire.

A loud crash suddenly erupt that sounded like a huge boom exploding, actually shaking the entire place up. And then my ears heard the sound of glass being shattered as something hurtled into it.

Through the dizziness that was causing my head to spin and the feeling of nausea in my stomach as my body was in too much pain to even move, I was able to see quick flashes of Anthony being threw all the way toward the left side of the room, actually crashing through the exit door.

She ran straight toward me and placed her trembling hand against my cheek, her eyes pained in horror as they took in this new of me being badly hurt and bloody. "Zane." Her words muffled the by the sounds of tearless sobs.

"It's alright. Everything is going to be alright. I promise." I soothed her, running my hand through her sleek hair and caressing her cheek softly, attempting a weak smile for her.

Wasting no time, she hopped me onto her back, delicately as she was careful with my bruises, and leaped onto the walls like a cat, opening the window and preparing to get me out.

Anthony, out of nowhere, pounced on us, pulling Victoria's feet and causing us together to crash into the ground hard, smashing me back into the glass wall while Victoria was knocked over to the opposite.

"Victoria!" I called out to her, as I stared at her lying on the floor, moaning in pain. "Victoria." I called louder.

She took a few moments to take a breath and get herself together, before finally getting on her feet, standing tall and firm. She gazed at Anthony with pure rage and hatred, coldness blackening her eyes, showing the beast that lives within her, and bared her fanged-sharp teeth. For the first time since we've hung out and been together, she looked like an actually vampire, the kind you feared as you heard stories and watched movies about.

Anthony beamed at the new sight of Victoria, the smile sickening me and giving me a great desire to punch him hard, though it would only hurt me instead.

"Look at you, Victoria. How long has it been since we've seen each other? A century? But as we can all see time certainty hasn't affected your attractive looks. My, my, my, you are a gorgeous girl. " She didn't reply, but he still smile and continued talking "Which is you should have been _mine_. But no, you decided to leave me and go off with your fucking family. When you should have been with me."

"I was _never _yours to begin with, you murderous bastard!" She growled coldly, in a voice that feared me.

"Not according to Carlisle. I kept my word that I would come back someday and get you back for what you did to me. But knowing me too well, you would have expected me to hunt down the jackass who's in your interest." He let out a dark laugh that echoed throughout the room. "And my great surprise that I lost former my soul mate to a piece of fucking shit like him." Pointing right at me.

I didn't see her pounce on him-it was too quick. I only saw flashes of vampires as they fought with each other, both refusing to lose the fight.

I watched in dreaded horror as the bastard suddenly flung Victoria hard against the wall, holding her tightly and choking her with his hand tightly around her throat. "I'm faster than you," He gloated. "Or, have you forgotten that?"

"But not stronger. I'm much stronger than you." She lifted her lower legs up and kicked him right in the face with her stiletto, high-heeled boots. The kick incredibly powerful that it crashed Anthony right through the wall. She let out a loud growl as she pounced, pounding and kicking, acting like a lion in for the kill. I saw Anthony under her, struggling to break free and fight back. But Victoria was unstoppable, refusing to stop until he was finally gone.

He then looked at his hand all of the sudden, the smell of smoke filling the air as he focused on his hand which looked like it was burning on fire.

When I looked at the fire, I realized what he was planning to do. My eyes widened in fearful terror for my love. "Victoria!!!!"

She paused for a moment, looking appalled as I was as she looked at her enemy,

Looking away from his hand and turning to Victoria, he smiled devilishly-and clawed his way through her, sticking his fiery hand right through her chest, right in the heart.

Time stopped for the longest time. My whole world crashing all around me. I couldn't think, I couldn't breathe. Shock, stunned was the only thing I could describe as I watch Victoria' s face becoming a mask of shock, her body going limp with her hand falling down to her sides, and her eyes finally rolling back and her head bending forward

"_VICTORIA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!_" The loudest scream to ever leave my lips, echoing loud and clear throughout the entire building as I stared at my soul mate, couldn't believe a single thing I was seeing.

There was no sign of remorse, or any emotional feeling that was seen on Anthony's face, other than evil dark, coldness.

"So sorry it had to be this way, love. But you should know by now that I always and forever will win." He said to her, as her limp body leaned forward to her, her blood dripping on his clothes and staining the floor.

"_YOU FUCKING-GODDAMN BASTARD!!!!!!!!!_" I screamed at him. "I hope you fucking rot in hell."

He was upon me, lifting my limp body high in the air before bashing it even harder toward the mirrored wall, and strangling my neck. I looked over at my beloved as she was still on the floor, positioned like a rag doll, not moving or even breathing. The very sight caused tears to spill uncontrollably, like a waterfall, and I had no power over them as they fell down my cheeks, wetting my face. "Victoria. Wake up, please. Please." I sobbed at her, but still seeing no change. Her face was even paler than usual, her flaccid body completely lifeless.

"Who can save you now, asshole?" The tightened grip was to make for me to even handle. I couldn't feel anything anymore, couldn't cry or even scream. I was close to death.

I was suddenly dropped onto the floor, and took my sweet time taking much-needed gulps of air. I watched in astonishment as both Jasper and Carlisle were wrestling with Anthony to the ground. Alice landed perfectly on the feet as she leaped from the ceiling, her eyes widened with both shock and horror as she stared at her sister, who was still not moving.

"Victoria." I heard the same amount of wounded pain in her murmur, which was the same as mine. She crumbled to the ground, loud sobs coming out from her lips as she was broken down by the downfall of her best friend/sister. She let out a loud sound, a noise that was a mixture of a hissed growl and scream, her face suddenly changing, turning more and more monstrous as she turned her head to Anthony, the coldness in her eyes enough to murder someone. "DAMN YOU!" She screamed to Anthony, as she joined in the battle with her adopted father and brother, fighting against the devil.

I ignored the unbelievably, burning pain that burned my body like a million knives were being pierced through my skin with each step I took as I ran over to Victoria. Crimson blood encircled her body and also soaked my shirt as I carried her in my arms and ran to the farthest side of the studio, away from the fighting that was happening behind us, trying so badly to hold in my tears which leaked through my tears as I looked at this sight of her, bloody and so close to dying. Her blood was what I was worried about. Victoria's body lost more blood than it possibly could hold! My eyes darted over her, spotting the ragged cut on her chest which was slowly healing up, but not fast enough.

I ripped a large piece of shirt with my teeth and pressed it hard against her wound, trying to stop it from bleeding. The bandage went red instantly. I ripped another cloth of the shirt to use for a bandage, pressing it hard against her wound, ignoring my own pain as I tried to save her.

But nothing helped. Victoria's eyes were still closed, and her face was completely drained of color, even her lips.

_She needs help! She needed help!_ I thought desperately. _But where the hell was I going to get it?!_

My blood, I realized.

I immediately sat Victoria up on my lap gently, bringing my neck close to her lips. She didn't react.

"Come on, Victoria! Drink! You know you want it." I urged to her, nudging her lips toward my neck. Nothing. Was it too late to save her? Was she about the die right in front of me?

I wasn't going to let that happen. Putting up a chunk of sharp, broken glass, I used the glass to stab myself right in my shoulder blade, near my neck. Crimson blood flowed down my shoulder, in several drops that was so dark it was nearly-black, and ever so slowly, it streamed down into Victoria's open lips.

Long moments passed. This time, however, her lips began to twitch, and her tongue licked them hungrily to see if any blood still remained.

She body-slammed me into the hard floor, and bit my neck, biting me deeply hard and drinking fast in an accelerate speed as she feed on me.

I screamed out in pure, burning agony. This bite was different; it was harder, paining me more than any pain in the world.

Victoria's eyes snapped opened, the shade of them matching the same color of my blood. She looked at me blankly, as if she didn't recognize me at all. Was it shock? Would she be controlled by bloodlust and drain me completely?

I wondered if I should try pulling away from her, but still wasn't sure if she had enough_. I had to trust her. I had to trust her that she would stop_, I thought as the blood loss was causing light-headedness was affecting my vision and everything was spinning.

Victoria was still drinking my blood, her teeth not releasing my neck and bit even harder.

I knew my life was over. I knew my end was coming. I could feel the white touch of death appear and begin to take hold of me. I felt my soul being pulled. The last few seconds of my life were just about to be drunken in by her, and I couldn't stop her. I tried to call her name, to tell her to please stop before she would kill me, but the dizziness spun me all around. Blackness creped into the edges of my vision, and I was soon drifting away into an eternal darkness.

_I love you, Victoria_


End file.
